Presbyopia, Monovision, and Near Vision Options
If you are over forty, you may experience presbyopia. This is the condition in which you have difficulty reading without additional help. People with presbyopia may use bifocal lenses or reading glasses to help them see objects at near. Many of the patients who seek LASIK surgery in San Diego have presbyobia. Presbyopia occurs because of natural changes in the lens of your eyes. When you are in your teens or twenties, your lens inside your eye can focus so that you can see near objects. When you are over forty, your lens begins to lose its ability to focus up close.
When you come for your FREE LASIK surgery consultation, Dr. Pham will present all your options. He will discuss monovision, reading glasses, conductive keratoplasty (CK), and multifocal lenses. This page will describe some of your options for LASIK surgery and near vision correction procedures in San Diego.
Monovision
One of the LASIK surgery options is monovision. When Dr. Pham performs monovision, he corrects one of your eyes for distance vision and the other for near vision. Monovision works best when you have stimulated the experience with a contact lens trial. For most patients, the dominant eye is corrected for distance and the non dominant eye is corrected for near. If you have not tried monovisioin before and are interested in it, it is highly recommended that you try the experience with contact lenses. Monovision is not for everyone. However, for people who have tried it with contact lenses it may be a good option to provide both distance and near vision after LASIK surgery.
Recently, the FDA has approved the VISX S4 laser used by the San Diego LASIK Institute for CustomVue Monovision treatments.
CK (Conductive Keratoplasty)
Conductive keratoplasty is a technology that uses radio frequency to create a near vision zone. Generally, patients who may be CK candidates in San Diego have good distance vision without glasses but need additional help to see up close. Patients who are mildly farsighted may also benefit from this technology. CK offers a temporary solution that may last from 1-3 years. However, it is known to regress with time and retreatments may be necessary.
LASIK Surgery to Fully Correct Your Prescription
The most common LASIK surgery option at the San Diego LASIK Institute is to fully correct your prescription. With this option, your distance vision will be fully corrected. This will give you distance vision so that you can drive, watch television, and perform many of your daily activities with a decreased dependence on glasses. When you need to see up close or read small print, you can use over the counter reading glasses. These reading glasses are the ones you can buy for approximately ten to twenty dollars at Walgreens, Target, Costco, or your neighborhood drug store.
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