Presbyopia

As people get older, the lens inside their eye changes and is no longer able to focus the eye on images up close. This condition is called presbyopia or "reading glasses syndrome." People with this condition may experience eye fatigue when reading in poor light or at the end of the day, have trouble changing their focus from distance to near, or need to constantly reposition reading material in an attempt to find the right focus. This loss of elasticity in the lens becomes apparent when near vision starts to get blurry somewhere between the ages of 40 to 50. This happens to everyone, regardless of whether they have ever worn glasses before. The symptoms of presbyopia can be confused with those of farsightedness, but they occur for a completely different reason.
Presbyopia has been traditionally corrected by wearing reading glasses. Some people have avoided reading glasses for many years, however, through a technique called Presbyopia correction with schwind excimer laser.

Monovision
The currently available laser machine can give you only monovision Presbyopia treatment, but schwind is capable of treating Presbyopia in real sense that is Multi focal vision.

Monovision is an option for people with presbyopia where the two eyes are adjusted to have slightly different focusing points. One eye will see things close up, the other eye will see things farther away, and the brain will integrate the visual information from both and filter out any blur. With monovision, you do not need to make any conscious adjustments in how to see, and the brain usually adjusts within 6-8 weeks to each eye focusing at a different distance.

Monovision has been used successfully with contact lens and refractive surgery patients for over 20 years. Refractive surgery patients can achieve monovision either with conventional laser vision correction, a new, minimally invasive, non-laser vision correction procedure. The CK procedure uses a technique called "blended vision," a type of monovision that many people have found easier to adjust to. Ask your doctor if blended vision might be right for you.

Monovision refractive surgery is not a cure for presbyopia. It simply "re-sets" the clock for near vision, giving you an additional 5 to 10 years without the need for reading glasses for most tasks. Even with monovision, however, there may be some situations (such as night driving in unfamiliar areas) where you might require "special needs" glasses.

The decision to have monovision refractive surgery is dependent on your age, profession, hobbies and desires. We don't recommend it for people under 38 because it is a visual compromise, and you will not receive any benefits for many years. It is possible that surgeries that directly cure presbyopia will become available in the future. People who need to see very well at distance (e.g. pilots, or nighttime truck drivers) also may not be the best candidates for monovision.

It is a good idea to simulate monovision on a trial basis to see if you can get used to your eyes focusing at different distances. We can help you do this by using contact lenses or trial eyeglass frames which can be adjusted to reflect the different possible corrections and give you a good idea of whether monovision is right for you.