When discussing laser vision correction with my patients at stall I care experts, one of the most confusing aspects that we go over is something called monovision. In fact for many patients when I start discussing this topic they look at me as if I am from Mars. The purpose of this blog will be to attempt to explain this subject.
Typically in our mid 40s our eyes lose the flexibility that they once had. When we are young when we wear our contact lenses or glasses we can see faraway and up close however, beginning around the age of 43 (with some variability) if we are seeing well in the distance we are unable to read. Similarly, if we can see up close clearly we cannot see faraway well. With monovision what the doctor does for you is let’s one eye see at distance and one eye see up close. In fact, some of you are already familiar with this concept because you are wearing contact lenses which may do the same thing.
How did we discover monovision otherwise known as bifocal vision? In the first days of laser vision correction as with most new technologies we only did the surgery on one eye at a time. There were patients who came back who are in their mid-40s and over who had mild to moderate nearsightedness on whom we corrected one eye and when they returned they said they didn’t think they needed the other eye done. In other words, having one eye see clearly a distance gave them great distance vision and having the other eye for reading gave them great reading vision. In fact, these are some of our happiest patients! Other patients, indeed, said that although the distance vision was good they wanted to make it better by correcting the other eye and they did not mind wearing reading glasses. The great majority of our younger patients wanted both eyes corrected for distance because the concept of reading glasses was still many years away.
One of the things we offer our patients at Stahl eye care experts is the opportunity to try monovision or bifocal vision before they make their decision as to what is best for them. What we offer them is the opportunity to wear contact lenses that make one eye good for distance and one eye good for reading. In other words let the patient rent this vision before he or she purchases this vision. Still, other of our patients who are having laser vision correction in New York, correct their dominant eye for distance and try monovision for a few weeks before they make a decision about their non-dominant eye. The take-home message therefore is that at Stahl eye care experts we are going to work with you to find a solution that provides the vision you want for the longest period of time.
