Do many people need reading glasses after lasik eye surgery?Elly
I've heard that some people still need corrective lenses even after having lasik. Is this true? Also, do you have to go back into the surgen's office after so many years so the doctor can tweak your vision so-to-speak?
Irish
They are two seperate problems. Lasik surgery fixes nearsightedness, or myopia. Presbyopia causes the need for reading glasses. This happens when the eye ages, it loses the ability to adjust for close-up reading. This sets in when you are over 40. Lasik Surgery does not fix presbyopia, so in theory your answer is "yes" although there is no relation between eye surgery and the need for reading glasses.
Pearlene
The need for reading glasses is only for patients who are presbyopic (which is usually people 40 years of age or older). However, there are many options for patients 40 and older. There are 3 different options for presbyopic patients. (1) Full Distance correction - both eyes are corrected for distance vision, but the patient will need to wear readers for anything within arms lengths.(2) Monovision - one eye (dominant eye) is corrected for distance, and other eye is undercorrected (made slightly nearsighted) to do reading. Bad part of monovision, is that some patients don't adjust to it (lose depth perception with this, brain doesn't adjust which causes patients to experience headaches, dizziness). This can be simulated with contact lenses and takes about 3-6 weeks to get the full effect of monovision. About 20% of people are not able to adjust.(3) Refractive Lens Exchange (RLE). This is the latest option for those who don't want full distance or monovision. Pretty much RLE is cataract surgery - where the natural lens of the eye is taken out and replaced by an artificial lens which sees distance and close up - no need for readers or loss of depth perception. This surgery prevents cataracts as well. Bad thing about this surgery is that one eye is done at a time, about 1 month apart and it is twice as costly as LASIK. This surgery takes about 40 mins compared to LASIK which is approximately 5-7 mins for both eyes.Patients who do monovision, may need to come in after a few years to fine tune or enhance the reading eye. As patients get older, the reading eye needs to be more nearsighted - like when buying reading glasses every year or so, people need a stronger reading glasses prescription. Enhancements can be done as long as the patient has enough corneal tissue.
Camila
Both of my grandparents had Lasik surgery. My grandma's vision was perfect after that, but now 2 years later, she needs reading glasses again. My grandpa, on the other hand, had his surgery 4 years ago and his vision is still fine. It just depends on the person and how good of a surgeon you get...and no, you don't need to go in for them to do any touch ups :)
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