It wasn't a slow decline. One day my eyes worked like they had for my entire life, and the next my eyes went wonky. Getting older sucks! Without glasses, I can still read books and my phone just fine. I've just lost my "middle vision" of about an arm's length away.
Anyways, all my fifty-something peers are going through the same thing. It's a really inconvenient life change. I imagine something like this would be popular if it were more well known. My optometrist didn't say anything at all about it.
Side note: Laser surgery can only fix one type of vision problem. So if I were to go in to fix my myopia, I'd still have presbyopia (age related hyperopia), or vice versa. There doesn't seem to be a one-size-fits-all surgery for vision.