I think I failed post cataract monovision!

It's been 26 days since my (easy peasy!) cataract surgery and IOL implant in my right (non-dominant) eye.  Since then, I've tried a -5.0 contact lens, a -3.5 contact lens, and a -4.0 contact lens in my left (dominant) eye.  The -3.5 is fine for reading and seeing around the house--but not so good for driving or seeing clearly beyond 2 feet!  The -4.0 is bad for reading (I'd have to hold the book at arm's length) and okay for driving up to about 20 feet, but I'd have to get about 10 feet away from a street sign in order to read it.  The -5.0 was terrible for reading and kinda okay for driving, but the image size never matched my IOL eye.   I do love how they are so soft and I cannot feel it!

Is it that my brain is not working with monovision? I get the feeling my optometrist is getting frustrated with trying out different lens strengths.  I finally bought a box of 30 lenses (the -3.5 power) and will be having a follow up visit in Oct. as he thinks maybe my IOL eye isn't fully "ready" to work with the other eye having a contact lens.

It is VERY frustrating!  Have I failed monovision?  

Do I need a different strength contact lens for my dominant eye?

Would more power than -5.0 bring the left eye and right eye's image size to be equal? (then I'd have to use readers)

Do I need a contact lens plus glasses?  Do I need contact lenses for each eye plus glasses?

I thought I understood a lot of this before, but now that I'm "in it"--well, I'm frustrated and confused as to the next step.

Thanks for any help and insight.  Hopefully, JodieJ will chime in! (she is my idol!)   :O)

[Ray T Oyakawa, MD]

I assume your  IOL eye is near plano. What is the prescription in the the other eye.

You need to set it so it ends up about -1.50.  I will take a while to get used to it.  If you keep on changing contact lenses you will not adapt. For reading you need to be set about  -2.00 or -2.25.  However, most patients will not tolerate a difference of more than two diopters between eyes.

Dr. O.