One option to allow a person over age 40 who has the problem of Presbyopia to see and read at near is the technique known as "MONOVISION".

Monovision means that one eye is corrected for distance vision and the other eye for near vision only. The nearsighted eye is undercorrected enough to see up close without reading glasses, allowing the presbyopic patient over age 40 to see to read with the undercorrected eye and use the fully corrected opposite eye to see well in the distance. There is some controversy as to which eye, namely either the "dominant" or "nondominant" eye, should be fully corrected for distance vision.

It is important to realize that with monovision one eye is always blurred either at near or distance. For example, if the left eye is left nearsighted and the right eye is fully corrected, the left eye will not see well in the distance but will see well for reading and near vision, and the right eye will see well in the distance but not for reading, etc.

Many people do not tolerate monovision. If you are interested in this technique, you should try monovision first either with glasses or contact lenses with one fully corrected eye and one undercorrected eye. If you find monovision to be intolerable using this trial, you may then avoid the necessity for a repeat laser treatment to fully correct the deliberately undercorrected eye following a monovision laser vision correction procedure!

© Earl W. Nepple, M.D., 2003 - All Rights Reserved
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