After having laser iridotomy at another clinic to prevent an acute glaucoma attack due to narrow angles, she asked about cataract surgery with multifocal lenses and was referred to us. The referring doctor is a senior colleague of mine who had himself had multifocal lens surgery at our clinic; being referred by someone who understands the benefits of the surgery firsthand even better than I do made me reconfirm the usefulness of multifocal lenses.
She had the typical high hyperopia (strong presbyopia) of short eyes, and even after laser treatment the anterior chamber remained shallow and weak zonules were expected, but corneal higher-order aberrations were low and we judged her a candidate for multifocal lenses; for the lens, she agreed to TECNIS Symfony, the same one used for my senior colleague.
In fact the zonules were not so weak and there were no problems during surgery, and as a result she could see 1.2 at both distance and near without glasses, and she was delighted.
Myopic people can see things if they bring them close enough, but hyperopic people cannot focus anywhere without glasses, so they can never do without glasses for far or near. Cataract surgery can cure that hyperopia at the same time, so for people with strongly hyperopic eyes and cataracts, we recommend early surgery, whether monofocal or multifocal. Please feel free to consult us.
Cataract Surgery Cases / Case
Multifocal IOL
Case #21: Woman in her 70s from Kokubunji (after glaucoma laser treatment, extended depth of focus multifocal lens: TECNIS Symfony)
This is an English translation of the original Japanese case report. If the two differ, the Japanese version takes precedence. Visual acuity is shown in decimal notation (1.0 ≈ 20/20).
Change in visual acuity (decimal; corrected values in parentheses)
Right eye: pre-op → post-op
Left eye: pre-op → post-op
2018.12.21
Patient questionnaire
Answers translated from Japanese.
- What was your condition before surgery?
My right eye was cloudy and I couldn't see.
- What led you to have surgery?
Because things were hard to see and it was inconvenient.
- Which did you choose, a multifocal lens or a monofocal lens?
I learned about multifocal lenses online, and since I had an insurance rider, I chose them after discussing it with my children.