Lasik Eye Surgery Risks For People Over 35
Are you thinking of having lasik eye surgery?
Are you over 35?
For people over 35, the option of lasik eye surgery, or similar corrective eye surgery procedures, carries additional risks that you need to be aware of, and need to make sure your optometrist or eye doctor explains everything to you.
As we age, we invariably start to develop some form of presbyopia - it is this condition that gives rise to the additional risks and reduced success rate of lasik eye surgery.
You have three options to consider if you are nearsighted or farsighted and have presbyopia:
1. Adjust for distance. Both eyes can be fully adjusted for clear distance vision. But the patient will need to wear reading glasses for good close vision, usually beginning sometime between the ages of forty and fifty. This might be referred to as the "normal" situation, because most people start to need reading glasses at about that age.
2. Monovision. Monovision is when one eye is adjusted for distance vision and one eye for near vision. Monovision is often created with contact lenses for people over forty years old and can be created by any type of refractive surgery procedure. In monovision, one eye is primarily used at a time for ideal focus. The "distance" eye is primarily used to see far-off objects. The "close-up" eye is primarily used to see near objects.
Both eyes are used all the time, but one is generally primary, depending on the distance of the viewed object. Peripheral vision is unaffected and depth perception is usually only mildly affected.
The main advantage of monovision is that patients often will not have to use glasses for distance vision or for near vision. The main disadvantage is that the patient is relying on one eye at a time, and some people do not like this. People with monovision may still use glasses in situations where they require excellent vision out of both eyes. Some, but not all, monovision patients will use glasses when driving a car (especially at night) or doing extensive reading. Other monovision patients will almost never use glasses.
Monovision is achieved by purposefully leaving one eye somewhat nearsighted when having laser eye surgery. Usually, this is the non-dominant eye (often but not always the left eye in a right-handed person or the right eye in a left-handed person). If a patient chooses monovision and for some reason does not like it afterward, the "near" eye can usually be corrected for distance in a second laser procedure. This will eliminate the remaining nearsightedness.
Getting used to monovision generally takes several weeks but may take several months, because you are breaking very well established ways of using your eyes. People rarely ask to have monovision eliminated after they get adjusted to it.
3. Mild monovision. This is a compromise between full distance vision in each eye and full monovision. In mild monovision, one eye is left with only a small amount of nearsightedness. This will cause only a small decrease in distance vision in that eye, but will aid somewhat in midrange and close-up vision.
For many patients forty-five or older, this mild monovision is a reasonable solution to the problem of nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism combined with the aging changes of loss of focusing. The degree of mild monovision is adjustable, based on the patient's age and visual demands.
Are you over 35?
For people over 35, the option of lasik eye surgery, or similar corrective eye surgery procedures, carries additional risks that you need to be aware of, and need to make sure your optometrist or eye doctor explains everything to you.
As we age, we invariably start to develop some form of presbyopia - it is this condition that gives rise to the additional risks and reduced success rate of lasik eye surgery.
You have three options to consider if you are nearsighted or farsighted and have presbyopia:
1. Adjust for distance. Both eyes can be fully adjusted for clear distance vision. But the patient will need to wear reading glasses for good close vision, usually beginning sometime between the ages of forty and fifty. This might be referred to as the "normal" situation, because most people start to need reading glasses at about that age.
2. Monovision. Monovision is when one eye is adjusted for distance vision and one eye for near vision. Monovision is often created with contact lenses for people over forty years old and can be created by any type of refractive surgery procedure. In monovision, one eye is primarily used at a time for ideal focus. The "distance" eye is primarily used to see far-off objects. The "close-up" eye is primarily used to see near objects.
Both eyes are used all the time, but one is generally primary, depending on the distance of the viewed object. Peripheral vision is unaffected and depth perception is usually only mildly affected.
The main advantage of monovision is that patients often will not have to use glasses for distance vision or for near vision. The main disadvantage is that the patient is relying on one eye at a time, and some people do not like this. People with monovision may still use glasses in situations where they require excellent vision out of both eyes. Some, but not all, monovision patients will use glasses when driving a car (especially at night) or doing extensive reading. Other monovision patients will almost never use glasses.
Monovision is achieved by purposefully leaving one eye somewhat nearsighted when having laser eye surgery. Usually, this is the non-dominant eye (often but not always the left eye in a right-handed person or the right eye in a left-handed person). If a patient chooses monovision and for some reason does not like it afterward, the "near" eye can usually be corrected for distance in a second laser procedure. This will eliminate the remaining nearsightedness.
Getting used to monovision generally takes several weeks but may take several months, because you are breaking very well established ways of using your eyes. People rarely ask to have monovision eliminated after they get adjusted to it.
3. Mild monovision. This is a compromise between full distance vision in each eye and full monovision. In mild monovision, one eye is left with only a small amount of nearsightedness. This will cause only a small decrease in distance vision in that eye, but will aid somewhat in midrange and close-up vision.
For many patients forty-five or older, this mild monovision is a reasonable solution to the problem of nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism combined with the aging changes of loss of focusing. The degree of mild monovision is adjustable, based on the patient's age and visual demands.
