Monofocal IOL for NEAR: How far can you see?

I had Monofocal lenses for distance implanted in my left eye 6 weeks ago and the right one 2.5 weeks ago. I did not have astigmatism before surgery, although I do now (very slight). Before surgery I uses +2.75 glasses for reading and +1.0 for watching TV. I did not use glasses for distance. Right now my distance vision is excellent and for reading I use my old +1.0 glasses that I used for watching TV before surgery. I don't need glasses for TV now. And, because the vision is still changing, I feel that even +1.0 glasses are too strong. I will get new glasses in about 4 weeks , when my right completely heals. I do not , even for one minute, regret getting monofocals. Especially, after reading about problems with other kinds of lenses.

Surgery is the piece of cake. I had only local anesthesia, no sedation, and didn't feel a thing. Don't know how bad your vision is now, but mine was terrible. And what a difference! The only downside is that now I can see how many wrinkles I have. LOL.

Good luck on your journey to the crisp, clear and cataract-free world!

That's funny about the downside, Adele. For me, it was seeing the amount of gray hair I now have. With the cataracts, the gray looked more blond/brown.

I had my first surgery a week ago, aiming for -2.00 for near vision. I'm not sure it's near enough for me, but I love the intermediate and much better (though not perfect) distance vision I now have in that eye. I'll be scheduling my second eye soon, probably targeting -1.00 for mini-monovision. I also had local anesthesia for my first eye; however, there was a painful moment that hopefully won't happen during my second eye surgery.

I got both eyes with Monofocal IOL for distance with Laser-assisted cataract surgery with astigmatism correction. What a difference. I can see distance very clearly. With my left eye, I can also read including fairly small print as well as distance. With right eye, distance is very clear, but near is not as good as left eye. Combined, I can see both distance and near well. I still wear store bought glasses with minimum power (+1.0) for reading books etc. if I read for a long time. I was pleasantly surprised about near vision correction. I only expected distance correction.

If you have intermediate vision in your right eye, you should have a choice of going for near or distance in your left eye, whichever is your preference. If you go for near, you'll need glasses for anything beyond what you now see with your right eye.

I ended up with intermediate (left eye) and distance (right eye), but I think I would have preferred near and intermediate. But I've always worn glasses and would have had no problem in continuing to do so.

i know what you mean about not wanting to lose near in the dominant eye. the trifocal just got approved in the US. it will be at premium price. would you have that option?

how is your distance vision in the completed eye?

yes as long as there are no surprises, i like what you would have preferred. after reading a lot of posts.. the concern is my dominant eye would end up being closer vision, my done eye is intermediate (not dominant.) also i want to see well enough to drive with glasses. right now i see computer and tv fine, not sure exactly how far out it goes. hoping i could be OK for occasional night driving with glasses. it's hard to remember what that was like.

My left, non-dominant eye was done first and provided intermediate vision. During the 3 months until I had my right eye done, my left eye became the dominant eye over the near vision of my right eye. Once I had the right eye done (set for distance), it took over as the dominant eye. So my opinion is that it doesn't matter which eye is dominant as I believe eyes will adjust as necessary.

You might want to do a web search on cataracts and eye dominance. While I think that the general feeling is that the dominant eye should usually be set for distance, I don't know if that opinion also holds when the eyes are set at near and intermediate. I personally don't think it matters, and I remember one study that showed pretty much what I said above; i.e., that eye dominance can change.

I also saw the studies where eye dominance changed in a small but significant percentage of the patients. I experienced this for a short time after my cataract surgery on my first (nondominant) eye. Given your first eye is done, I would make the decision based on where you want the vision in your second eye, and not on eye dominance.

As far as driving with glasses, I don't see why there would be any problem day or night. If you meant driving without glasses, I think with your eyes set for near and intermediate, you will probably need glasses.

After my left eye was done, I felt that the intermediate vision I had was just good enough to drive familiar routes during the day without wearing glasses. However, I never did because of potential liability in the event of an accident, plus I couldn't make out road signs until very close (if at all).