Refractive Surgery Blog

Presbyopic patients outside the U.S. are now being successfully treated with aspheric multifocal ablations which strongly suggests we will have that treatment here in the near future. However, before that will happen, the FDA is requiring a clinical trial of monovision LASIK to be performed. Monovision LASIK is already widely used in the U.S. and is already a standard procedure for many surgeons.

AMO-Visx is proceeding with the monovision trial to prove the safety and efficacy of monovision for presbyopic patients and is leading the way for the multifocal ablation study. The six month results are encouraging. At least 80% of patients have achieved 20/20 uncorrected vision at both distance and near and 92% were 20/25 or better at distance and near simultaneously. And, 95% of patients reported being less dependent on on glasses with 97% of patients reporting they would undergo monovision correction again if given the opportunity. The downside of monovision were the visual symptoms of seeing halos (~10%) or glare (~3%).

We have been providing the monovision LASIK option for over ten years. But, before I offer monovision to patients, they must undergo a contact lens monovision trial. Interestingly, I have found women prefer this treatment as compared to men but both genders appear to do quite well when they make the the monovision choice.

Stuart Lewis, MD

Labels: Presbyopic LASIK