As we age, our eyesight often fails us to the point we have great difficultly reading. While glasses and some surgeries will help, often doctors tell patients to use a magnifying glass for reading as a last resort. Now The Daily says help has come by using a iPad.

Recently,100 patients viewed the same chapters of a book in traditional print, on a Kindle and on an iPad 2. All of the subjects gained at least 42 words per minute using the iPad 2 on the 18-point font setting. Kindles set to the same font produced gains of at least 12 words a minute.Patients with the most severe vision loss gained the most. Researchers credited the iPad’s back-illuminated screen for the increase.

 

 

“Patients with macular degeneration are excited to discover their improved ability to read with the iPad,” said David G. Birch, chief scientific officer at the Retina Foundation of the Southwest, a nonprofit research center in Dallas.

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