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Vision Correction Surgery for People with Presbyopia
Nearsighted people over 40 who are accustomed to removing their
glasses for close work need to give extra thought to vision correction
surgery. Because their eye gradually becomes a single-focus optical
system which can view EITHER near objects OR distant objects clearly
(but not both), they will probably need glasses to read if they
have surgery to focus both eyes for distant objects. For some, this
may be an advantage, but for others, it may not.
It is possible to correct one eye for distance and leave the other
slightly nearsighted for reading. This technique, called monovision,
may give presbyopes the best chance of eliminating corrective eyewear
entirely. If you are in the presbyopic age range, you must determine
if your goal is to achieve best vision correction for distance in
both eyes or to leave one eye slightly nearsighted for reading.
If you are over 40 and a contact lens wearer, you may have already
experienced monovision by wearing one contact lens that has slightly
less power. With refractive surgery, you may have monovision by
leaving one eye slightly nearsighted. About two-thirds of patients
who try monovision adapt to it successfully and the other third
elect to have both eyes corrected optimally for distance and wear
simple "dime-store" reading glasses for near work. If
you try monovision and do not like it, your under corrected eye
can be enhanced to the full correction allowing you to see clearly
at a distance with both eyes.
Please discuss monovision with your doctor so that an appropriate
surgical plan can be made.
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