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Eye Care Archive (Expert Forum)
Mono-focal or multifocal lens
Our Ask A Doctor Ophthalmology Forum is where you can post your question and receive a personal answer from physicians affiliated with the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
Mono-focal or multifocal lens
by Tulipan1, Apr 07, 2007 12:00AM
I am right eye dominant. I have a cataract in my left eye. At the moment my right eye sees well for reading. My Dr. suggests a mono focal lens for the left eye. He does not suggest a multifocal lens because he feels the results are not good unless both eyes are done and I have no cataract in the right eye. He did also mention the cost difference but that is not a concern. If I thought I'd get better results with a multifocal lens I'd go with it. And if I were to go multifocal, how do I decide which one? Thanks
Doctor's Answer
by Forum-OD-MP, Apr 08, 2007 12:00AM
every study and anecdotal patient experience i have ever read says that nearly all multifocals not only 'perform better' when both eyes are done, but also perform poorly when only one eye is done.
if you are only going to have one eye performed, a monofocal is probably your best bet IMO
if you are only going to have one eye performed, a monofocal is probably your best bet IMO
Many people have had multifocal lens and are happy with them, but there also seem to be many who have had problems with glare and halos. A very few have also investigated having them removed because of the problems.
Many people have had monofocal acrylic lens implanted, most with no problems. Most of these seem to be with the Alcon aspheric. The only real problem that some have had with the acrylic IOLs is some glare from the edge of the IOL.
Some, like myself, had silicone monofocal IOLs implanted. Mine are the B&L aspheric. These seem to have a little less problems than the acrylic, possibly because more people are getting the acrylic IOLs. I did have streaks from a bright light source at first, but they are completely gone in my right eye and mostly gone in my left eye. I had my left eye operation 2 weeks after the right, so hope that the left eye streaks will also disappear.
Sorry, butI can't comment on the advisability of getting a multifocal IOL in one eye only. After all of my reading, I decided that I did not want a multifocal IOL because of what seems to be a relatively high risk of problems. I decided on the IOL that I got because it was the lowest risk of problems and still an aspheric lens. I am 20/20 in my right eye and 20/30 in my left eye without glasses. The reason that it is not better is because I have 0.75D of corneal astigmatism in my right eye and 2.00D in my left eye. I can read a few of the 20/15 letters with both eyes open. I think that I checked as 20/10 with correction, but I'm not sure. I could read the last line available and my doctor said that my vision was exceptional. I will be getting checked and order new glasses in 2 days. With the monofocal IOLs, I can see better close than I had expected. I can see clearly as close as 3 or 4 feet without reading glasses. I can even read my computer at 2 feet, but it is much better if I wear 1.00D reading glasses.
There are a lot of smart people on this site that had helped me make a decision, along with all the medical articles that I read. Hopefully you will get a lot more information than I can give you.
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