VISUAL AND NONVISUAL VARIABLES IMPLICATED IN MONOVISION WEAR

Background. Although both psychological and visual factors have been s uggested to influence successful monovision contact lens wear, there h as not been any documentation to support the relationship between psyc hological factors and the outcome of monovision wear. In our study, th e relative importance of various visual and psychological factors were investigated in an attempt to provide a profile of a successful monov ision wearer. Methods. Participants, who had never worn monovision len ses were fitted with distance contact lenses for an adaptation period of 2 weeks; thereafter, 67 participants wove monovision lenses for 2 w eeks. Results. Of the participants, 67% stated that based on their vis ual experience they would continue monovision wear. Discriminant analy sis indicated that one of the personality factors in Cattell's 16 Pers onality Factor (16 PF) test, ''superego strength,'' could be used, in conjunction with the difference between binocular and monovision stere opsis scores, in predicting the success of monovision in 68% of the ca ses. The variables of age, gender, pupil size, immediate reaction to m onovision, motivation, self-efficacy distance, and near refractive err or could not be used to predict successful monovision wear. Conclusion s. These results demonstrate that psychological factors are indeed imp ortant in monovision wear.