Laser eye surgery "monovision"

[Mark Tracy]

Did anyone ever get Lasic Surgery on -only- one eye and how does that work for riding? Do you have depth perception issue? How long to adjust?

I finally got laser surgery on my right eye only. I originally planned both eyes with PRK surgery (I was not a candidate for the Lasic procedure due to my cornea imperfections). I went to a top rated eye surgeon in Houston with all the latest laser equipment and nationally known experience. He said let' s try just one eye and this way you can still read without glasses - we will use the newer Intalasic procedure. He said we will take your dominat eye (aimming eye) and make it 20/20 and leave the other alone - if you don't like it we can do the other later but you will need reading glasses. Said you can ride within 2 days .

So it has been nearly 3 weeks and I can surely see distance really great and am very pleased. That said, the "Monovision" is difficult to judge dept perception, sometimes the whoops look flat, I tend to look down just in front of the front fender but have been trying to look way down the trail.

Thanks - let me know you experiences,


TeX MarK

 

[clw]

Hey Mark:

A few months ago I was up in Orlando, rubbed my eye, and out popped one of my contacts. I'm nearsighted so in effect I had monovision. The corrected eye for distance and the uncorrected eye for reading/close work. Just the 2 hour drive home freaked me out. Can't imagine dodging trees or even a tennis match. You need both eyes working 100% for decent depth persection; think of the old toy viewfinders or 3d glasses.

Did contacts bother you?

 

[Mark Tracy]

Thank you for the feedback clw,

"You need both eyes working 100% for decent depth persection; think of the old toy viewfinders or 3d glasses."

Yes, I will have to agree --- that is what I have been reading -- both my eye doctors wanted to try just one eye and it will take about 6 weeks for the brain to adjust (I think I have a brain?) to the mono vision, most people do they said. So I will just wait and see (no pun intended).

Actually, I never wore contacts, just distance glasses the last to years and even with the glasses I was 20/40 at best, the Intralasic will get me 20/20 or better likely.

Best regards,

MarK

 

[tm_enduro]

I had lasik done in Vancouver Canada. They talked about monovision correction, but advised that anyone that wants to do it practices with monovision contacts first. Many people cannot adjust to it. It works well for elementary school teachers (no need for reading glasses), but can be a problem for sports.
I remember when racing with contacts, if one lense got dirty and you only had one good eye, dpeth perception was awful.

 

[iancp5]

I'm missing something here - why would you only have one eye corrected?
I understand one at a time but surely the whole point is to correct both defective eyes?

 

[Mark Tracy]

I'm missing something here - why would you only have one eye corrected?
I understand one at a time but surely the whole point is to correct both defective eyes?

My plan was to have both eyes done for distance vision, knowing I would need reading glasses. Per my optometrist I went to a very respected eye surgeon in Houston (not the $300 dollar one but $199.00 per eye) with the latest laser and surgery practices. He said , "lets do just one eye, that way you can still read without glasses, but will see distance". My surgery eye is 20/25 now and should get to 20/20 or even better with time.

So all this said I can really see street sign great, even better than my old glasses, and night vision has improve significantly, or really good. But rising seems to still be difficult as we need "stereoscopic binocular" vision for dept perception. This can be learned by most people but takes several month, perhaps longer.

The Dr. option was - see if you like it, if not we will try a soft contact in the uncorrected eye and if you like it we can do the IntraLASIC on that eye. I have several months to adjust before testing that option...

 

[Mark Tracy]

Please note: that is $2,000.00 per eye not $199.00...