Monovison is an option when considering refractive surgery. As part of the aging process, our ability to focus up close and perform tasks at reading distance becomes more difficult. The condition is called presbyopia and reading glasses are needed to bring things into focus. This begins to occur in our mid-40’s. The patients who have monovision as an option are people who are in their 40’s and are already experiencing difficulty reading up close.
A presbyopic patient can have both eyes corrected for distance with the understanding that reading glasses are needed after treatment. The other option is Monovision.
Monovision Lasik or Monovision PRK allows the patient to not have to keep track of reading glasses and still be able to focus far away. It’s not for everyone and trying it out in contacts is recommended to see how he or she likes monovision while performing daily tasks. Your eye care professional will adjust one contact for distance and the other for near vision. If after trying monovision in a contact trial and the patient can adapt to it, the next step is refractive surgery at Rockville. Doing this important step helps ensure the patient will be happy with the end result and already accustomed to it.
People who may have difficulty with monovision are those with balance issues or experience dizziness. When one eye is more dominant for distance and the other eye more dominant for near it can impact stereo vision or depth perception but most people are able to adapt to it. We use our depth perception to navigate steps, parallel park and when playing most sports activities.
Sometimes patients under age 40 will ask for monovision. That’s usually not recommended because younger people are still able to focus up close and having one eye corrected for near will blur the far vision. If however someone is nearing presbyopia, Dr. Holzman may slightly under-correct both eyes for distance to give ease at near or do a modified monovision procedure.
Monovision is a specialized technique which can provide the best of both worlds. Dr. Andrew Holzman and the doctors at Rockville / DC can help you decide if it’s right for you.
