Laser Eye Surgery Offers Alternative to Costly Multifocal Glasses
Translated & summarized from Bizportal by baba
The article discusses the high cumulative cost of multifocal glasses, which can reach tens of thousands of shekels over a lifetime, and presents MonoVision laser surgery as a potential one-time alternative. This procedure adjusts each eye for different focal distances, aiming to eliminate the need for multifocal lenses after a thorough patient evaluation and simulation.
The story in 5 lines · by baba
- Multifocal glasses can cost up to 54,000 shekels over a lifetime.
- MonoVision laser surgery offers an alternative to multifocal glasses.
- The procedure corrects each eye for different vision distances.
- Patients undergo extensive testing and simulation before surgery.
- Future need for reading glasses may still arise.
As people age into their 40s and beyond, declining vision often leads to reliance on expensive multifocal glasses, which can represent a significant long-term financial burden. While many accept this as a natural part of aging, modern medical advancements offer alternatives, including laser eye surgery, that can potentially eliminate the need for these corrective lenses.
Multifocal lenses correct for distance, intermediate, and near vision within a single pair of glasses. However, the cost can be substantial. A calculation based on replacing glasses every three years from age 43 to 80, with a conservative estimate of 1,500 shekels for lenses and 1,000 shekels for frames, results in a total cost of 30,000 shekels over 37 years. A more expensive scenario, with lenses costing 3,500 shekels, pushes the total to 54,000 shekels, averaging between 811 and 1,459 shekels annually.
For suitable candidates, a one-time surgical solution exists: the MonoVision laser procedure. This technique corrects refractive errors like nearsightedness or farsightedness and presbyopia by adjusting each eye differently. One eye is corrected for clear distance vision, while the other is adjusted for near vision, with the brain merging the two images. While the correction for existing refractive errors is permanent, the progression of presbyopia may still necessitate reading glasses in the future.
The MonoVision procedure, performed at facilities like Assuta Optic, involves precise laser reshaping of the cornea. Techniques such as Z-LASIK, which uses a bladeless laser to create a corneal flap, or Trans-PRK, which removes the surface epithelial layer before reshaping the cornea, can be employed. The goal is to reduce dependence on multifocal glasses by enabling functional vision at various distances, with the brain gradually adapting to the different visual inputs from each eye.
Before undergoing MonoVision surgery, patients undergo a comprehensive evaluation. This includes vision acuity tests, refractive error measurements, corneal mapping and thickness assessment, and a general health check. Crucially, a simulation using contact lenses or trial glasses is often performed to assess the patient's ability to adapt to the altered depth perception and binocular vision before committing to the irreversible surgical procedure.
Mentioned