LASIK micro-monovision protocol effective for treating myopic astigmatism, presbyopia

J Refract Surg. 2011;27(1):23-37.

LASIK with a nonlinear aspheric micro-monovision protocol shows promise for treating patients with presbyopia in moderate to high myopic astigmatism, a study found.

"Following our early experience with nonlinear aspheric myopic ablation profiles with the MEL 80 and CRS-Master (Carl Zeiss Meditec), we found that sufficient binocular distance and near vision could be achieved with a lower degree of anisometropia," the authors wrote.

The protocol was determined to be "well tolerated, stable and effective," according to the study.

In a case series at the London Vision Clinic, 310 eyes of 155 patients who were treated with LASIK-induced micro-monovision were examined and followed for 1 year. Ocular dominance was determined prior to the operation, as well as tolerance to anisometropia.

The intended refraction following the procedure was plano in the dominant eye and within a range of –1 to –1.5 D for the nondominant eye.

Postoperatively, the improvement in spherical equivalent correction was within ±0.5 D in 92% of eyes and within ±1 D in 99% of eyes. Monocular uncorrected distance visual acuity was 20/32 in all eyes examined and 20/20 in 99% of eyes.

Stereopsis was not evaluated in the study, but the authors noted they would evaluate stereopsis in future studies.