Dear rsdixon,
I would recommend that you speak further with your eyeMD about your options. Before any other surgical intervention is performed, I would recommend that you try a contact lens for a few days to make sure that you will adapt to the loss of intermediate vision. If you do, you could undergo a lens exchange or LASIK and both options will work for you. Since the IOL exchange is an intraocular procedure, the risks might be slightly higher than LASIK. Speak with your eyeMD further.
Dr. Feldman
Sandy T. Feldman, M.D., M.S.
ClearView Eye and Laser Medical Center
San Diego, California
thank you for your response. When I asked my eyeMD about trying out a contact lens -- originally, I was thinking of doing it for the right eye (non-surgical eye) and seeing how I liked the "monovision". He did not seem interested in trying me with a contact at the last visit we had saying "that brings in other problems" or something to that effect. I think he is hoping I will accept Lasik (which he does) and does seem less invasive to me. However, the idea of trying out a contact on the surgical eye -- to see how it feels to have one eye with good long distance vision and one eye with passable reading vision (right eye) sounds like a smart idea before going ahead with anything permanent. What I had hoped for was long distance vision in the surgical eye -- I am curious if it might be a challenge to adapt to -- having my surgical eye at "plano" and my right eye where it's at -- good enough for near reading but not for intermediate vision. When I view things without my glasses now -- since both eyes are somewhat close -- it seems I naturally use the eye that gives me most clarity -- although the eyes are not that far apart right now. anyway -- it's all quite interesting. Wish my MD had communicated with me more thoroughly.