All About Monovision

LASIK Surgical Monovision in San Leandro, Concord, and Castro Valley

The vast majority of people over the age of 40 deal with the challenges of presbyopia, which is a normal aging process of the eye. Presbyopia makes it harder for you to focus on objects up-close. Reading the fine print in a magazine or on your smartphone screen can become difficult and frustrating.

One basic solution for presbyopia is to carry around a pair of readers (magnifying reading glasses), yet this can become a nuisance. A more convenient method of vision correction that we perform in San Leandro, Concord, and Castro Valley, CA, is surgical monovision, also called blended vision.

Basic Explanation of Monovision

You may be surprised to learn that monovision has been around for over 20 years already. It is a safe and reversible method of vision correction that works as follows:

Most people have one eye that is dominant, meaning that it is stronger than the other eye. Monovision takes advantage of this by correcting the vision in your dominant eye for distance vision, while leaving the other eye a bit nearsighted. Having this nearsighted eye enables you to see objects that are close. In sum, both eyes work together – facilitating sharp vision at all distances.

Many people worry that monovision is a complicated way to see, however in practice it is usually highly successful. Typically, people adapt well to the monovision technique within one to two weeks. In fact, when both eyes are open, they may not be able to figure out which eye is set to see near and which eye is set for distance.

Three Types of Monovision

1. Surgical monovision: LASIK surgery can achieve monovision by adjusting one eye for distance one eye for close-up vision.
2. Computer monovision:  vision is set to be sharpest for seeing objects at a mid-distance, such as a computer screen. Reading glasses may still be needed for very close items, and objects far away are generally in crisper focus. This type of monovision is ideal for people who don’t read a lot or who spend a lot of time working at a computer.
3. Modified monovision:  patients will wear one bifocal contact lens. This lens is inserted into the weaker eye and used for seeing near. Typically, you will also wear a single-vision contact in the other eye, which will have the necessary lens power for correcting whatever vision condition you have.

Is Monovision for Everyone?

While many people find it easy to use monovision, not everyone is able to adapt. Also, monovision can lead to reduced depth perception and less visual clarity at night.

That’s why our eye doctors in San Leandro, Castro Valley, and Concord, CA, often recommend trying monovision with contact lenses before committing to undergo LASIK surgery for presbyopia correction. We will assess your vision condition and discuss the pros and cons of monovision LASIK surgery with you.