Can People Above 40 Undergo Lasik?
Dr. Andrew Caster of the Caster Eye Center in Los Angeles says yes. Myopic people who are in their mid- to late-forties may find that they still require reading glasses despite having undergone LASIK.
They generally require reading glasses or bifocal eyeglasses at a later age than people who are emmetropic (those who can see without eyeglasses), but this benefit is lost if they undergo LASIK.
This is not a complication, but an expected result of the physical laws of optics.
Although there is currently no method to completely eradicate the need for reading glasses in this group, it may be minimized by performing a variation of the LASIK Los Angeles procedure called monovision.
In this procedure, which is performed exactly like distance-vision-correction LASIK, the dominant eye is set for distance vision, while the non-dominant eye is set to the prescription of the patients reading glasses. This allows the patient to achieve a similar effect as wearing bifocals.
The majority of patients take to this procedure very well and do not notice any shift between near and distance viewing, although a small number of patients have trouble adjusting to the monovision effect.
Andrew Caster MD added, The main advantage of monovision is that people over 40-50 years old often will not use glasses for distance or near vision. The main disadvantage is that the person is relying on one eye at a time, and some people do not like this. About half the people 45 or above choose some degree of monovision, and about half choose not to have monovision at all. It is quite easy to determine if monovision is a good choice for you using some simple tests in the office Dr. Andrew Caster also noted that this can be tested for several days prior to surgery by wearing contact lenses that mimic the monovision effect.
They generally require reading glasses or bifocal eyeglasses at a later age than people who are emmetropic (those who can see without eyeglasses), but this benefit is lost if they undergo LASIK.
This is not a complication, but an expected result of the physical laws of optics.
Although there is currently no method to completely eradicate the need for reading glasses in this group, it may be minimized by performing a variation of the LASIK Los Angeles procedure called monovision.
In this procedure, which is performed exactly like distance-vision-correction LASIK, the dominant eye is set for distance vision, while the non-dominant eye is set to the prescription of the patients reading glasses. This allows the patient to achieve a similar effect as wearing bifocals.
The majority of patients take to this procedure very well and do not notice any shift between near and distance viewing, although a small number of patients have trouble adjusting to the monovision effect.
Andrew Caster MD added, The main advantage of monovision is that people over 40-50 years old often will not use glasses for distance or near vision. The main disadvantage is that the person is relying on one eye at a time, and some people do not like this. About half the people 45 or above choose some degree of monovision, and about half choose not to have monovision at all. It is quite easy to determine if monovision is a good choice for you using some simple tests in the office Dr. Andrew Caster also noted that this can be tested for several days prior to surgery by wearing contact lenses that mimic the monovision effect.
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