Types of Presbyopia Surgery

Doctors will sometimes use ordinary LASIK to create a "monovision" effect by correcting one eye (usually the dominant one) for distances and the other for reading. It is recommended that patients try this first with contact lenses before having the surgery. Some people take readily to the new way of seeing, but others find it difficult to tolerate. In 2004 the FDA approved a new type of presbyopia surgery called conductive keratoplasty (CK). CK is a less invasive procedure that takes just three minutes to perform. Instead of cutting into the eye, the surgeon uses radio waves to shrink collagen in specific parts of the eye, making it more suitable for near vision. This is another monovision technique -- the second eye is left alone and corrected with a contact lens if need be for distances. Several other treatments are in experimental phases and have not yet been approved.