Can Lasik Get You Out of Reading Glasses?

Because lasik has been around for decades, there have been people who have gotten lasik at a young age only to discover that eventually the scourges of presbyopia catch up to them. Presbyopia is a condition that happens to everyone in their mid forties in which the natural lens inside the eye loses the ability to see up close. This puts those past lasik patients into reading glasses despite still having perfect distance vision. This leads some people to believe that lasik can't get you out of reading glasses.

But that is false! Lasik really can get you out of reading glasses. The treatment plan is just slightly different.

Many people with presbyopia who wear contact lenses start to explore various options to get out of reading glasses. One popular option, which has been around for years is called monovision. Monovision takes advantage of the fact that we have two eyes. In monovision, the dominant or stronger eye is corrected completely for the distance with contact lenses and the non-dominant eye is corrected completely for up close. It sounds weird, but monovision works well once you get used to it. A lot of people like it but some people are more ‘meh’. Monovision can be difficult for some people to adjust to.

In lasik, a milder form of monovision called “mini-monovision” is used. The difference between monovision and mini-monovision is that the non-dominant eye is corrected slightly more for the distance. The non-dominant has improved distance vision without sacrificing much up close vision. This simple change vastly improves the ability to adapt to this new glasses-free vision afterwards. While it will still take some time to adjust, even a lot of the people that couldn’t adjust to monovision with contacts can adjust after lasik.

Correcting vision with lasik and targeting mini-monovision can do a great job of getting out of or postponing the need for reading glasses.

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