Laser Blended Vision is a sophisticated new laser procedure for people aged between 40 and 65 years to treat age related loss of near vision. This new procedure is performed with the MEL80 Laser available in New Zealand at the Wellington Eye Centre.
Until now, if you are 40 years or older, you may have thought that laser vision correction was not for you. This is because as we get older we develop a condition known as presbyopia, which is the loss of ability to focus on near objects.
When you develop presbyopia you will notice that your near vision is getting worse and at some point, usually in your early 40s, will find that you need reading glasses. By age 45 or so, almost everyone needs glasses to read a newspaper or thread a needle. Near vision gets progressively worse up to the age of 60.
Unfortunately, this has often meant that laser vision correction for people over 40 results in better distance vision without glasses, but has also meant that there is an increased need for reading glasses, reducing some of the benefit of laser vision correction surgery.
Now, with the introduction of LASER BLENDED VISION from Carl Zeiss Meditec, , older people can now expect to get excellent distance and near vision after laser vision correction surgery. LASER BLENDED VISION is only available in New Zealand through the Eye Centre Group with the MEL 80 Laser.
Most current laser vision correction systems offer a procedure known as Monovision to reduce your dependence on reading glasses. With the Monovision procedure one eye is deliberately left short sighted so that it sees better at near rather than far away. This is known as monovision. This procedure reduces the need for reading glasses but does not eliminate them altogether. Monovision is a compromise because it is not possible to give both good near and distance vision in both eyes at the same time.
With "normal" amounts of monovision, the distance eye sees well at distance but not well at intermediate or near distances. The near eye will see better at closer distances, but not so well at intermediate and distance. Because the depth of field of vision of the eyes decreases as you get older, this results in an intermediate "blur zone" where focus is fuzzy in both eyes and close vision may also be less than optimal. This makes it difficult for the brain to fuse the two images together and can result in poor tolerance of monovision.
To overcome these limitations with traditional monovision, Carl Zeiss Meditec, makers of the MEL80 laser used in New Zealand by the Eye Centre Group, have developed a very sophisticated procedure known as Laser Blended Vision.
This technique is able to compensate for presbyopia in almost all patients having laser vision correction surgery, including short and long sighted patients and patients with astigmatism. It can also be used for people who only wear reading glasses but have good distance vision - known as emmetropes.
In Laser Blended Vision, laser refractive surgery is used to correct the dominant eye mainly for distance vision and the non-dominant eye mainly for near vision, while also increasing the range of focus of each eye. As a result, the brain merges the two images, creating a blend zone, rather than a "blur zone" i.e. a zone which is in focus for both eyes. This allows the patient to see at near, intermediate and far without glasses. Because the eyes are able to work together at all distances, it is much better tolerated than traditional monovision.
In Laser Blended Vision, the LASIK treatment is used. The procedure is performed on both eyes simultaneously and takes 20-30 minutes. Visual recovery is rapid and there is very little pain afterwards.
Almost all patients who would be expected to need reading glasses are suitable for Laser Blended Vision. This includes most short and long sighted people and also those people who only wear reading glasses.
SAFETY: Studies have shown that Laser Blended Vision treatment is just as safe as traditional LASIK.
DISTANCE VISION AFTER SURGERY: Results for distance vision after laser Blended Vision are comparable to the results with normal LASIK surgery./p>
NEAR VISION AFTER SURGERY: 99% of short sighted patients, 94% of long sighted patients and 99% of" reading glasses only" patients could read newsprint without glasses, while 96% of short sighted patients, 81% of long sighted patients and 95% of "reading glasses" patients were able to read very small print.
The Eye Centre Group are very proud to be the first, and have the only, Laser Eye Clinic in New Zealand to offer this advanced and sophisticated laser vision correction system and procedure to our patients who are in the reading glasses age group.
For a suitability assessment contact our closest Eye Centre in either Wellington, Palmerston North or Hastings, or request an assessment online.