When you hear about LASIK, you start to get ideas about getting freedom from wearing corrective eyeglasses or lenses. However, the chances of LASIK eye surgery giving you clear vision without glasses reduce if you are over the age of 40 years.
If you are old enough and considering LASIK eye surgery, you should ask your doctor about monovision LASIK eye surgery. Though LASIK surgery is great for farsightedness, those who have presbyopia must rely on reading glasses for better clear vision. Monovision LASIK can help older people with their need for reading glasses and bifocals.
What is Monovision LASIK?
Monovision is a technique to correct presbyopia with contact lenses. In monovision, one eye is made to correct the distance vision, and the other is made to correct the near vision. This technique for correcting presbyopia has been quite effective and popular.
The same technique to fit monovision can be applied to LASIK as well. With monovision LASIK, your dominant eye is fit to be perfect, while the non-dominant eye is nearsighted. The doctor will LASIK your dominant eye only if you are already nearsighted.
Is Monovision LASIK Effective?
Monovision LASIK is more effective for people who have been wearing monovision contact lenses for the past several years. Your doctor will decide after a comprehensive eye exam if monovision LASIK will be effective for you or not.
Just like monovision contact lenses, monovision LASIK also takes some time to adapt to. Usually, patients go through a period of adaptation of 1-3 weeks. Some patients have complained that, sometimes, the distance vision is slightly blurred.
Is Monovision LASIK good for you?
If you are considering monovision LASIK, your eye doctor will ask you to try monovision contact lenses for a year or half to ensure your eyes are able to adapt to this vision correction technique, and perhaps you can also make use of honey lenses available in prescription as well.
Some people adapt to monovision quicker than others. Some people find that both eyes do not collaborate the way they used to before.
What is Mini-Monovision LASIK?
If you are doubtful about the Monovision LASIK and do not mind wearing reading glasses after the LASIK surgery, you may want to consider mini-monovision LASIK. Mini-monovision LASIK term is used for a small amount of correction for nearsightedness with LASIK.
It doesn’t give you a perfect vision, but it betters it enough for you to go around your daily tasks like shopping and similar tasks, so you don’t have to wear reading glasses all the time.
However, you will need reading glasses to perform close-up work like reading a newspaper, book, or other small text.
Which age is appropriate for Monovision LASIK?
Monovision, contact lenses or LASIK, does not work so well on younger people as on older people. For people of age 25 years or below, monovision LASIK is not recommended. For people in their twenties, it is still 20 years before you start to have near vision problems.
People over 40 years of age adapt to monovision only because it is when people usually develop presbyopia. There is a mental motivation for that because it will make more difference in the vision. Your brain adapts quickly when you can read better. However, younger people still have reserve near-focusing power, so there is no substantial benefit and, in turn, no motivation for your brain to accept the procedure.
Monovision and mini-monovision are often discussed and recommended for the patients when they are nearing their forties. It can help the patients to delay the need to use reading glasses to complete close-up tasks, or you can also advise them to wear eye lenses when they read.
Monovision LASIK may not be a perfect fit for everyone, but it is a good way for people who do not want to be dependent on vision corrective devices like eyeglasses and contact lenses. It is a viable option for the people who want to get a clear vision for both near and distance.
