New LASIK procedure may help more people see clearly

A newly approved LASIK procedure has prompted some people to give laser vision correction a second look.
In July, the Food and Drug Administration approved CustomVue Monovision LASIK, making it a viable option for people over 40 who may have set their sights on laser eye surgery, but hesitated because they would still need reading glasses.
“Once you’re over 40, traditional LASIK can give you great distance vision if you’re nearsighted, but you would likely still need glasses for reading and other up-close tasks,” said Dr. Marc Werner, an ophthalmologist at Stahl Eye Center in Manhattan, Garden City and Hauppauge, Long Island.
“CustomVue Monovision LASIK eliminates the need for reading glasses by treating one eye to see far away objects and the other eye for close-up vision. This is called ‘Monovision’,” Werner says. “Because the dominant eye is treated for distance vision, the brain generally can easily compensate for the two different levels of correction.”
The new indication uses previously approved wavefront-guided treatments - an eye-mapping system that guides the laser - to achieve the most precise result.
The need for reading glasses is almost universal as people enter their middle years. Known as presbyopia, the condition makes it difficult to see fine print and perform up-close tasks, such as putting on makeup. Most often, it is first detected between 40 and 50 years of age.
“Most people who are good candidates for Monovision LASIK are individuals over 40 who say that they take off their eyeglasses and read fine. For this person, it’s often possible to correct just one eye to give them good distance vision and good reading vision,” Werner says. Moreover, it is half the cost of treating both eyes.
“If they don’t like the result, we can always do laser correction on the other eye, and that person would just need over-the-counter reading glasses,” Werner says.
LASIK is a procedure in which the eye surgeon creates a flap in the outer layers of the cornea, removes a small amount of the tissue beneath it with the laser, and then replaces the flap.
Monovision can also be achieved by wearing contact lenses. “People considering CustomVue Monovision LASIK should first wear Monovision contact lenses for at least a week to make sure they can tolerate having one eye under-corrected,” Werner says.
In the clinical studies of Monovision LASIK, 98 percent of patients said they were satisfied with the procedure and would elect to have the treatment again. In some cases, however, patients may need to wear glasses or contact lenses for some activities such as night driving or reading small type, according to the FDA.