Modern surgical options

Spectacles and contact lenses can provide correction for a wide range of ametropia.

With corneal laser vision correction, the shape of the cornea is altered to change its focusing power. Corneal laser vision correction can typically correct up to -12D of myopia, up to +4D of hyperopia and up to -5D of astigmatism. Sufficient corneal thickness should be guaranteed to avoid the risk of permanent corneal weakening.

Monovision, where the target prescription of one eye is optimised for distance vision and the other for intermediate or near vision, can be applied in corneal laser vision correction to help reduce dependence on reading glasses in presbyopes. ‘Laser blended vision’ optimises one eye for distance and intermediate and the other eye for intermediate and near in order to increase the range of clear vision, compared to conventional monovision. With laser vision correction, both eyes are usually treated the same day. Intracorneal inlays are another option for patients seeking a surgical solution for refractive correction, where a lens or aperture is implanted into the cornea in order to improve near vision in the non-dominant eye.