My wife (48) had Lasik about 8 months ago. She was nearsighted
and desired not to have to always wear glasses for driving, movies,
etc.

After surgery, she now has excellent vision for anything beyond 6-
feet. The trouble is that her close-up vision — Computer use,
reading, cooking, make-up application, etc. — has gone terrible.
She wears readers constrantly and it drivers her nuts.

What type of glasses — or other advice — might she look into? Is
there anything she can do?

You wife is suffering from what I call “sudden presbyopia”. Presbyopia is when the natural lens of the eye becomes less able to change shape to focus on objects near. This is a part of the aging process with presbyopia affecting near vision at or after about age 40.

Before surgery you wife was myopic (nearsighted, shortsighted). That myopia gave her a bit of an advantage for near vision and “masked” existing presbyopia. Now that surgery has removed her myopia, she is dealing with the full effects of the presbyopia that was always there. We have a detailed article about presbyopia after Lasik at http://www.usaeyes.org/faq/subjects/sudden_presbyopia.htm

Reading glasses or possibly monovision correction may be the most appropriate. To learn about monovision, visit http://www.usaeyes.org/lasik/faq/lasik-monovision.htm

If you wife has been overcorrected into hyperopia (farsighted, longsighted) vision she would likely have poor vision at all distances. A manifest refraction (which is better, one or two?) would give your wife a prescription for her current refractive error. For details on how to read an eyeglass prescription, visit http://www.usaeyes.org/lasik/faq/read-eyeglasses-contacts-prescription.htm

Glenn Hagele
http://USAEyes.org
Lasik Patient Advocacy & Surgeon Certification

I am not a doctor.

Take a look at my post above. I'm 99% glasses free now. I don't need them for computer work.