Monovision With Contact Lenses

By Nancy Del Pizzo; reviewed by Joseph T. Barr, OD

Bifocal contact lenses may not be for everyone. Because the eye needs time to adjust to sorting out the different powers, it takes some time to adjust to the lenses. Some people will have visual needs that are not satisfied by the current variety of bifocal contacts.

If that's the case, you may still be able to wear contact lenses and see clearly, even if you have presbyopia. Your doctor may recommend monovision as an option.

How Monovision Works

With monovision, you wear one contact lens with one power to correct distance vision and the other contact lens with one power to correct near vision. The distance vision lens is usually worn in your dominant eye.

While monovision may appear to be an unusual choice, most people actually accommodate well to it, and eventually don't even notice that each eye is responsible for a different part of their vision. Because each lens has only one power, your doctor can prescribe any of the currently available spherical lenses for monovision, including all of the current disposable lens options.

The Limitations of Monovision

The downside of monovision is that each eye works more or less alone rather than "binocularly," meaning in concert with each other. The result:

• You may have to adjust your head position more often to see clearly.
• You also may lose some depth perception.

Surgical Monovision Options

The concept of monovision can also be used in surgery for presbyopia. LASIK can be performed with a correction for monovision, and monovision is also used for conductive keratoplasty (CK).

[Read more about surgery for presbyopia.]

Many eyecare professionals have free-trial programs in place that allow you to try monovision to see if it will work for you. Also, prior to any surgical correction for monovision, it's smart to "test-drive" the concept with contact lenses. Visit your eye doctor to determine if bifocals or monovision make sense for your eyecare needs and to identify the best lens design for you.

[Page updated October 2006]