What’s the best way to see clearly at all distances without eyeglasses after cataract surgery? Some refractive surgeons feel the answer is monovision.
Monovision is the practice of fully correcting one eye so it sees perfectly well for distance vision, and making the other (usually non-dominant) eye mildly nearsighted so it provides acceptable near vision without reading glasses.
Monovision has been around for years, being performed with contact lenses to enable people over age 45 who have presbyopia to have functional vision at all distances without being dependent on reading glasses.
Recently, monovision also is being offered by refractive surgeons with LASIK and with refractive IOLs used in cataract surgery.
This week, eye surgeon John A. Hovanesian, MD, (Laguna Hills, Calif.) discussed monovision cataract surgery in his blog on the Ocular Surgery News website.
According to Dr. Hovanesian, the monovision procedure has several advantages over the use of multifocal IOLs in cataract surgery, Including:
- A “trial run” of monovision with contact lenses prior to cataract surgery rarely is needed.
- High-quality vision at all distances can be achieved with only a mild amount of nearsightedness in the non-dominant eye, making adaptation to monovision quite easy.
- Monovision typically does not cause depth perception problems.
- Monovision can yield better contrast sensitivity than monofocal IOLs for activities like driving at night.
- Monovision allows cataract surgeons to choose from a variety of premium monofocal IOLs, including aspheric lenses designed to reduce glare.
- Monovision typically is less expensive than cataract surgery with multifocal IOLs, which can require thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket costs for patients.
For the best results with monovision, it’s important that the distance vision of the dominant eye is perfect. In some cases, this means enhancement refractive procedures (i.e. LASIK or PRK) may be required after cataract surgery.
Dr. Hovanesian said that after considering its advantages, he plans to offer surgical monovision to more of his cataract patients in the future.
Tags: monovision, Presbyopia