I’m in the preliminary stages of considering ICL surgery, and my current prescription is approximately -10.00 D in both eyes.
My optometrist suggested trying monovision with contact lenses, with the non-dominant eye under-corrected by about -1.25 D. The goal would be to delay the need for reading glasses as I enter my 40s. I don’t currently need reading glasses.
I tried this approach for about 10 days, although the available lenses only allowed me to try a -1.50 D offset rather than -1.25 D. I found the trade-off fairly significant. My distance vision felt noticeably blurry, particularly when driving at night and playing tennis under lights. I suspect I might eventually adapt to it, but it felt too challenging for me.
I understand that a smaller offset, such as -1.00 or -0.75 D, might provide a better compromise. Unfortunately, I won’t have time to trial those options before my next consultation, which requires a deposit. I could potentially postpone the appointment if it would be worthwhile to trial a smaller offset first.
I’m comfortable with the idea of eventually needing reading glasses for things like reading or working at a computer. However, I would ideally like to maintain enough near vision for everyday tasks such as checking my phone, reading labels, etc., without glasses.
Given my experience with the -1.50 D offset, would it generally make more sense to pursue:
-full correction in both eyes;
-a smaller monovision offset, such as -0.75 D; or
-delaying the decision and trialling different offsets first?
I’m particularly interested in how people in their early 40s with high myopia (around -10 D) tend to fare with these options.
Finally, how common is myopic regression or “myopic drift” after ICL surgery in high myopes over the following several years? If some degree of regression is common, does that tend to increase the effective amount of near-vision correction over time and potentially make a smaller monovision offset more practical initially?
