NEED TO KNOW
- More than a decade ago, Sarah Jessica Parker started having vision problems and it became harder for her to read
- As her blurry vision progressed, she needed to rely more and more on glasses, which shedcalls “the biggest annoyance”
- The actress opened up to PEOPLE about age-related blurry vision and how she finally found relief
About 15 years ago, Sarah Jessica Parker was in Ireland reading a book before bed. An avid reader, she was surprised to find herself struggling to get through the pages.
“I just remember reading and thinking, ‘This isn’t comfortable and this isn’t fun.’ Initially I just thought, ‘Oh, my eyes are tired or I’m tired.’ But it became abundantly clear that it was the obvious,” the actress, 60, tells PEOPLE.
Parker is among the 128 million Americans living with age-related blurry near vision. She started wearing glasses, which she didn’t mind initially. But as her blurry vision progressed, she had to rely on them more and more, which she found frustrating.
“I think it was a point of pride for me that I never wore glasses because I read so much. I read in the dark, I read in cars. So I wasn’t thrilled at the idea of having to have, like, a companion in order to read,” she explains. “It was the biggest annoyance needing something to do what I had spent so many years just doing wherever and whenever I wanted.”
Lenz Therapeutics
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Last year, Parker was a judge for the 2025 Booker Prize, one of literature’s most prestigious awards. She read more than 150 books — all while dealing with her vision troubles.
“I love reading. It’s also my job. Not just on stage or screen or television, but also as a publisher, as a parent,” she says. “But I’m not somebody who spends a lot of time bemoaning. Like, I just don’t complain. I’m always just kind of marching ahead and doing what I need to do.”
Still, she knew she needed a better option for her eyes. She finally found relief by turning to Vizz, a new FDA-approved eye drop for treating age-related blurry near vision.
“Having discovered Vizz and having something that created more convenience, just on a practical level, is really fantastic,” she shares.
“It changes a lot of experiences for me personally,” she continues. “I can pick up a book anytime, anywhere. I can text anytime, anywhere. I’m not reaching the depths of my purse, touching my body, looking in a bag, on a countertop for a pair of glasses.”
Lenz Therapeutics
Having used Vizz for the past few months, Parker is now partnering with Lenz Therapeutics to highlight the drops and encourage others to discuss options with their eye doctor.
“There’s things that I wanna do to support something like my relationship with reading. And this didn’t seem like something radical for me,” she says. “It’s like, ‘Oh yeah, this is the way I can live my life differently.’ And it just seemed like a really nice partnership because I’m so often talking about something that requires my eyes to be my buddy, you know?”
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No longer having to worry about her vision, Parker admits it’s easier to get back to her norm, which includes not thinking about herself aging.
“I carry on in the same way I always have,” she quips. “I’m not somebody who’s spent a lot of time talking about aging, self-care, any of that. I don’t even talk about my birthdays. But it’s nice to be able to pick up a book and read, and this didn’t exist a year ago in my life, so that’s really nice.”