Blended Vision / Monovision

Most children have the ability to freely and clearly switch focus from objects that are right in front of their nose to objects that are extremely far away. This ability usually comes as easily as switching from breathing in to breathing out. As a person ages, it often becomes noticeably more difficult to switch focus from near objects to faraway objects. This is because the lens of the eye loses elasticity and results in the onset of presbyopia usually in the early to mid-forties. 

Monovision is a corrective technique that uses the human brain’s ability to “see” the images from each eye independently and to “choose” which eye is generating the clearest image. Monovision usually requires that the naturally dominant eye is corrected for clear vision at a distance, while the other eye is corrected to see objects clearly for near vision. The human brain naturally tends to filter out the image from whichever eye is not in focus and uses the image from the eye that is in focus. In other words, the brain learns to not pay attention to whichever eye is not in focus. The result is that those with monovision are usually able to see both distant and nearby objects at any age without any corrective lenses. Most people automatically adjust to monovision within a couple weeks or months.

If you are considering monovision to correct presbyopia, it is recommended that you consult with one of our doctors to determine if monovision might work for you. The doctors will test your eyes with different lenses, and if that works well for you then you can opt to permanently correct your eyes with monovision through surgery.