Custom Multifocal Cataract Surgery
Multifocal intraocular lenses offer excellent potential for reducing your dependence on glasses and contact. Our practice has extensive experience with multifocal lenses dating back to 1997. Multifocal lenses work by providing simultaneous near and distance vision in each eye, thus allowing both eyes to work together for both distance and near.
- The Tecnis Multifocal lens: the Tecnis Multifocal provides excellent distance and near vision. It is now available in three different models, depending upon your specific needs for near vision.
Weaknesses inherent in all multifocal IOL designs include aberrations that can cause glare and halos, especially at night. About 1 in 20 patients describe the glare and halos with multifocal lenses as “severe.” Multifocal lenses work best with binocular vision (both eyes working together), therefore, you will not get the full effect of multifocal vision until you have had surgery on your second eye.
Although multifocal lenses may represent your best option for reducing your dependence upon glasses and contact lenses, it is impossible to guarantee that you will be able to throw away your glasses. Reading glasses, for instance, will always magnify near objects, thus making them easier to see, even with a multifocal lens in place. Because Medicare and private insurance companies consider multifocal lenses to represent a luxury technology that is not absolutely necessary for good vision, these lenses are not covered by Medicare and insurance.
