Distance Monofocal IOLs, daily life?

l'm in the same boat as you, l need surgery in a year and thinking of mono focal distance lens but worried how it will affect my daily life for when l dont have glasses. Out of interest why dont you want mulitfocal lens then you wont need glasses. WHat about extended depth of vision lens like the sympathy lens that gives you more closer vision but without as much side effects as multifocal

I do not have monofocal lenses. I opted on 2017 for symfony lenses. I can do all those things without glasses. There is the trade off of night vision as I see multiple concentric rings (like a spider web) around certain lights at night. The circles get smaller as you approach light source (like red traffic light - till they disappear as you get closer.

All replies will be specific to each person. Some eyes see much closer (even if IOLs are monofocal set for distance). Some speculate it us pupil size - but really not sure any surgeon can tell you in advance. There is slso on how well power of IOL is calculated to your needs and the fact IOLs come in increments of .50 diopters vs glasses that have increments of .25.

There is no immediate drop off - there will be a point where vision gets slightly blurrier and continue to get blurrier.

If you prefer not to use mini monovision approach you can always use a magnified mirror for putting on makeup or shaving. Those really close up tasks will be where you definitely need glasses.

I am only half way through the two eye cataract process. My first eye was done with a monofocal IOL set for distance. I ended up at 0.0 D spherical for refraction, and have good 20/20 distance vision, despite some residual astigmatism (-0.75).

.

With this eye reading my watch is a little difficult. Reading my iPhone 8+ is also difficult. I would have to hold it at arms length and the text gets kind of small to read. Shaving probably would not be an issue, but since I am near sighted and my other eye gives me close vision I don't really have experience. Depending on the menu it could be difficult to read in daylight, and impossible in a dim restaurant. Have not played tennis or golf with it yet. I would expect it to be fine. I have no problem reading my dash instruments in my vehicles. And, in general I can see fairly well down to about 20". However, based on others here reporting their experience that seems to be closer than average. I suspect my residual astigmatism gives me a little closer vision. I think the trick to getting the best close vision while maintaining distance vision is to not go into the + side of your residual refraction. The normal target is -0.25 D. But it is much better to be -0.5 D than to be +0.25 D.

.

Keep in mind you do not have to make the total decision on both eyes at the same time. It is fine and recommended to have at least 6 weeks between eyes. That gives you first eye a chance to heal and you know the refractive outcome. Then you can make a decision on the second eye. This interval also gives you an opportunity to do a trial run of monovision with a contact lens in the non operated eye. The normal practice is to do a distance set monofocal in the dominant eye first, and do the monovision trial with target myopia of -1.25 to -1.50 D in the non dominant eye. This requires of course that your vision in that eye is good enough to evaluate it. Then if you like what you get, you can go that way with the non dominant eye using an IOL. If you don't like it, then you can still get a distance set monofocal in the second eye. My thoughts are to not dismiss monovision until you have given it a trial run. I love it compared to always looking for my readers.

Hello,

Like @Sue.An2, I went the premium lens route with one Symfony (about 3 weeks ago) and one Synergy (6 days ago). I cannot really claim that I chose this combination as it was chosen for me by my surgeon and I decided to trust him given his stellar reputation in the academic community and in my local area as a surgeon. My guess, and many say this online, it comes down to what you are used to. Because I had a large cataract in one eye and a moderate one in the other, simply working on my computer had become quite bothersome and somewhat impossible. So, by the time I saw an ophthalmologist, my sight had degraded quite terribly - and it happened fast. First, I started noticing last summer when walking that there was a haze over everything, then driving at night became an issue and then working on my computer became an issue - all within 5-6 months. I really did not notice how much vision I had lost until I saw the ophthalmologist and I could not see the big E on the chart with my glasses on. I wore progressive glasses with a -4.00 in each eye, and sometimes a multi-focal J&J lens (-4.00 with med reading in left eye and -4.00 with low in right). I had to wear readers on top of the lenses because the multi-focal lenses are set to just low, med and high so that wasn't quite right!

I am giving you the back story so that I can now tell you about my experience. Having the Symfony/Synergy combo I can see well at all distances - can easily read my iPhone on the factory setting, can easily and clearly see my Apple watch, am now typing on a MacBook Air without any glasses and can see clearly (standard screen text size), can see my regular monitor for work with text at a standard size (not magnified like before), can see street signs, license plates and very importantly (ha ha) leaves on trees. I don't feel like I've lost contrast, but gained so much else. However, the reason for the backstory is to highlight that my sight was not great to begin with and so now I am probably in some sort of honeymoon bubble with my new lenses. Night driving is an issue! There is a lot of glare with headlights, but I went out last night with hubby and it's manageable. I will only drive known and short distances for now. Finally, these were expensive. Even with great insurance, I still had to pay around $10K overall for both eyes. The surgeon used laser which added cost. The best advice I got on this forum was to seek out a good surgeon (thanks to @rwbil, @RonAKA, @Sue.An2) and that is what I did. I was overwhelmed with all of the information and had to make a decision quite quickly as my sight was deteriorating quickly with a fast-growing form of cataract. I am in my late 40s work a lot and had a limited time window to get this done (over Christmas break as I am a Professor). If I had more time to consider everything, I don't know if I would have made a different decision. There is lots of great advice on here. In the end, though, I just found the best possible surgeon and decided to trust him. There is a lot of scepticism online about trusting surgeons as they are out to make money and will try to sell you premium lenses when you don't need them. If you are in the US, this is most certainly true. I therefore took @rwbil's advice and looked for one who researches and publishes on this topic. He also teaches at a local medical university. I had to believe that he has some ethics and would not recommend something for me that he did not believe would perform well. So, my advice is to start by searching for the right surgeon, maybe see a couple and go by their recommendations if you feel comfortable. All the best to you 😃

I really appreciate this thread as I'm contemplating the same thing. I just had a monofocal lens put in my left eye and love that I can now see clearly at 20/20 in that eye. I would like to do the same with my right eye and will need to use reading glasses or contacts (or progressive contacts) for reading. I decided not to go with multifocal IOL because of the side effects I've read about. Anyone here opt for distance monofocal IOL in both eyes? How do you take care of reading or computer work? Is it convenient?

If I choose monovision correction (farsighted in left eye, and nearsighted in right eye which is dominant), would I miss the stereoscopic distance view and would I be able to compensate for this with a far-sighted or progressive contact lens?

I would like to take the family to Disneyland, look at roller coasters in the distance than quickly glance at a map to figure out how to get there.

Thanks for your perspectives!