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  • Can I wear contact lenses after cataract surgery?


    Question:

    I had cataract surgery in both eyes about 15 years ago with monofocal lenses inserted. For many years my vision was just fine with the mono lenses (I had worn mono contacts for years before the cataract surgery) but my near vision is beginning to go and I need readers to see almost all type sizes. Can I now have contact lenses to wear over the mono cataract lenses or must I use readers forever?


    Answer:

    To clarify some of these terms for our readers, it sounds as though you had cataract surgery with implantation of monofocal lenses in each eye. These monofocal lenses were used to achieve monovision, where one eye was set for distance and the other set for near.

    To answer your question, unless you have another ailment, you can almost certainly wear contact lenses after having cataract surgery, and there are a variety of choices are available to you. You can wear a contact that improves the distance vision in the near eye, you can wear a contact that improves the near vision in the distance eye, or you could even wear a contact to enhance the near vision in the near eye.

    This question was originally answered on Oct. 05, 2015.


    Answered By:

    Cataracts Glasses, Contacts and Vision Correction