San Diego Lasik eye doctor Reviews
One to One Lasik in San Diego
Sanford G. Feldman, M.D.,
Ellie E. Samadani, M.D.
Patricia S. Bainter, M.D.
Maulik S. Zaveri, M.D. M.S.
"The difference is the time
we spend with each patient..."
(858) 273-0200  
Eye Care
LASIK for Monovision
At around age 40, most people who don't wear glasses for distance vision develop a need for glasses to read or to see things up close.

This age related loss of close-up focusing power in the eye is called "presbyopia." People who are moderately nearsighted can often continue to read up close without glasses after age 40, despite the onset of presbyopia. They simply take their distance glasses off in order to read or see up close.

This is possible because their nearsighted eye is "built" to see best up close in the first place. LASIK is designed to improve distance vision by reducing nearsightedness. The decrease in nearsightedness means that the eye is no longer "built" to see well up close without glasses.

So, if you are over 40 and nearsighted, LASIK may improve your distance vision dramatically, but increase your dependence on glasses to read or to see up close with the treated eye.
One way around this problem is to consider having LASIK for "monovision." Monovision is the term used for "setting" one eye for distance vision and the other eye for reading or close-up vision. Monovision was originally developed as a strategy for contact lens wearers over age 40. But monovision can also be achieved with LASIK. In this scenario, one eye (the dominant eye) is fully treated with LASIK to achieve the best possible distance vision without glasses or contacts. The second (non-dominant) eye is then treated with LASIK to allow for reading or close-up vision. The "reading eye" is blurred for distance. The "distance" eye is blurred for reading. But the brain usually adjusts quickly to "choosing" the correct eye to use for all tasks. Monovision can often delay or eliminate the need for reading glasses for many years. Most people adjust to monovision quite easily. At One to One LASIK™, we can usually show you what monovision is like before your LASIK procedure.

Even when monovision with LASIK is successful, there may be certain times when reading glasses are still helpful, such as when trying to read maps, phonebook listings, stock quotes in the newspaper, menus in dim restaurants, etc.. And because LASIK does not stop the normal age-related loss of close-up focusing power over time, the need for reading glasses may increase somewhat as you get older. Some people who choose monovision may also benefit from a pair of glasses to wear on occasion when they want the two eyes to work better together, such as when driving at night or reading for long periods of time.



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