Hi, I have a slow cataract. Was originally was considering a trifocal lens, but ophthalmologist thought I was the kind of person who would find the abberations hard to get used to (basically because I over-think things) . He recommended I have a bifocal lens with near add of 2 dioptres, which he said would give me good distance and intermediate vision with less risk of aberations, the downside being I would need reading glasses. If you've had this lens, please could you tell me if you did get starburst etc, and how easy it was to adapt to ? Also do you have reading vision (at all ?) Thanks
my thoughts are why are you choosing premium lens, when a monofocal mini/ monovision can almost do the same thing? i have monovision, my distance vision is 20/20. i need readers for close. Someone more knowledge than me will drop by! Age, lifestyle, activity, working all enters into a decision what is best for you!
Because it would give me good intermediate, very important… And hopefully some reading with the +2
Hi Anne!
Firstly, it is really good you’re doing the research in advance. That will make any psychological adjustment way easier in the end.
Your ophthalmologist is really astute. I also overthink things (big eye roll), and that is something my surgeon has told me to chill out on, in order to try to adjust to the Tecnis ZKB00 bifocal +2.75 he implanted in May. My distance settled out at +.25 so consider the near add now at +2.5.
I have horrible halos, several times the diameter of the actual lights, and also horrible ghosting, which comes from multiple images of anything high contrast (like letters on a sign) being overlapped. For example, marquee signs on a bus are all yellow: the ghost images obscure the black background entirely. All the menu items on my computer screen are shadowed with gray behind them, as are any high contrast borders. I see them on almost everything, even print on a page, and even on three-dimensional objects, like a speaker’s face when backlit by their projector presentation, or a bright piece of paper on a desk. So, doing minor graphic design (making pamphets) on my computer means I can’t see the border of shapes clearly unless I zoom in to like 500%. I also have starbursts, which oddly don’t bother me as much, probably because they’re so bright I just look away. Rarely, headlight starbursts have obscured my driving, but only once or twice and of course, briefly, until the car passes. I also see all these things during the daytime, but with everything else being bright, they don’t stress me out. I don’t like them, but they don’t make me panic like they do at night.
Understandably, I’d never in a million years recommend multifocal/bifocal lenses anymore. From what I’ve heard, those who like them either don’t do much at night (say, the woman in the video everyone recommends on Youtube: she’s 68 and doesn’t drive), or are not bothered by the artifacts. It’s not that they don’t see them, it’s that they don’t mind. If you are the type of person who would mind, then I would stick with monofocals.
Even so, as I just signed the final paperwork to get my second eye implanted with a monofocal, reading the propaganda about multifocals was difficult (“This is the best we have to offer our patients!”) The promises are great and of course we all want everything! But I feel the incidence of side effects is wildly underestimated. I have not looked into how many of the studies are industry-funded, and how many are independent. One conservative ophthalmologist said, “100% of patients see these things.”
@Danish_Viking is super knowledgeable and had one trifocal and one Extended Depth of Focus lens put in about a month ago. Oddly, the EDOF creates MORE artifacts for him than the trifocal. So honestly, results are very hard to predict. In a lot of ways, it’s a roll of the dice.
You have to choose what you choose so that you are content with the choice. I know three people IRL who have monovision: two with lasik and one with IOLs. They all love it. One of them is very active, skiing, sailing, and is a potter so does intermediate vision work that needs depth perception. One is my mother and she has lived with it for 35 years. I guess ophthalmologists have seen people who have a hard time adjusting to monovision, but my feeling is that it is easier for the brain to figure out how to switch eye input than to deal with seeing things that aren’t really there. One can always close one eye for a second to show the brain which eye to pay attention to.
For me, now that I have these aberrations, I crave crystal clarity, and can’t wait to have the monofocal put into my second eye so it will override the halos. Yes, monofocals can create dysphotopsias too, but are way way way less likely to do so (but @Deb03 might feel differently). Also, with these problems, I am finding myself more willing to compromise on needing glasses for near stuff. Basically, with monofocals, there are more future options available: multifocal contacts, regular contacts to create monovision, different types of glasses, etc. There are corneal implant lenses that are being developed, lenses can be piggy-backed even within the lens capsule…with just one focal point in there, it is easier to tweak later.
I must say, I’m wearing glasses this week since I can’t wear contacts before the surgery, and it’s reminding me that they aren’t as bad as I remember. Sure, it’s better without them, but look around: EVERYONE wears glasses, all ages.
I will see how it goes once I have a monofocal for distance in my second eye and will be posting here after my surgery in 3 days. If the halos and ghosting are still a problem, I will consider an lens exchange, aiming for monovision. My mother’s difference was -1.75 and she sees near just fine with that eye…BUT she has an astigmatism. Astigmatism makes you more nearsighted, so in this case that can be an advantage. My surgeon corrected my small astigmatism when he put in the monofocal, and I kind of wish he hadn’t.
Hope this longish post is helpful (“I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” -Mark Twain). Life always works out in the end, so sometimes trials and tribulations are part of the journey. Do let us know as you keep pondering, and what you finally choose to do.
Hi Anne…I opted for monofocal lenses with a mini monovision. I have both good distance and intermediate vision. I only need glasses for reading and other activities closer than about 15 inches. I did upgrade to a toric lens for my small amount of astigmatism because, as my surgeon put it, someone “with my personality type” would not be happy otherwise . 
(I’m also an over-thinker and researcher. )
Anyone had the Lentis MF20 lens
The first surgeon we met advised us for Monofocals but on pushing him for Multifocals and which he thought was the best, he said that he uses Lentis,Bifocal. He said it was the latest and the greatest. Don’t remember the model number but similar to your one.
My research resulted in me canceling with that surgeon for his IOL choice. I would not install a bifocal in my eye!
Hi
Lens choice is really difficult, I know how you are feeling.
I read about some real life outcomes with the lens you are mentioning before my own surgery, sorry to say, but real life outcomes are only slightly different than with other bifocals when it comes to side effects, even that the Lentis do not have the rings in its design that the other bifocals have.
People with the Lentis still see half a ring for some reason, but some of them too experience ghosting and other stuff because of the two images that are projected to the retina.
If you are in the US I also have a suspicion that your surgeon have no experience with the trifocal, because it have only been sold in the US for one month, even that we have had trifocals in Europe for may years.
Trifocals are better than the older style bifocals that have been used in the US up till now, I am quite sure that the Lentis and the Panoptix trifocal are equal good/bad when it comes to visual side effects.
So in my opinion, and I am not a doctor or anything like that, if you want the least risk of visual side effects, you should go for two monofocals with minimonovison with -1.0, it will give you the same intermediate as two Lentis 2.0 and the least risk of side effects.
Personally I am big fan of the trifocal, I enjoy it a LOT, but I know they are not for everyone.
But if you are going for premium lens, forget the Lentis and go for the trifocal, otherwise after surgery I am afraid you will feel cheated, because you could have had reading vision in the same package, and you still have side effects with the Lentis.
It is all my personal opinion, I have a mix with an edof like the Symfony and a trifocal, and the trifocal is the one you want, if you are going for premium lenses.
It is all my personal opinion, but I really feel the surgeon is selling you an outdated lens, now that the trifocal is available, and otherwise go for the monofocals if you don´t want to risk the side effects.
Thank you all, plenty of food for thought..
Danish King he actually has years of experience with the trifocals, and a very good track record.. in part because he is very picky about who to put them in.. If you know where you read about the mf20 specifically, that would be interesting.
I have tried monovisioin and managed to reverse husbands car into fence
Stiil I have time on my side to weigh up potential risks vs benefits… Will keep watching this thread and overthinking about it… Thank you all
interesting, it seem you couldnt tolerate monovision with contact. i did monovision with contacts years ago. But the monovision with iol ( cataract surgery) is a better fit. my brain is still adapting to the new vision, but i am pleased with the results.
It is a very difficult choice, I was almost obsessed in a couple of month about it, I spend several hours each day reading everything I could find on the internet.
So you are not the only one who overthinks it, most of us do that 
I have not saved the studies with the real life outcomes with the Lentis, I just remember it, because I remember the authors were surprised that the patients with the Lentis also saw either a full or a half halo. And off course the problems you can have with having more than one picture projected to the retina would be the same for all multifocals.
But that said, from my own research, I fully agree with your surgeon, that if you want some type multifocal, that Lentis is the one that have the lowest risk of side effects and it have also very low contrast loss, so the lens have some very strong sides.
It sounds like you have found the right surgeon, that are open to finding the best solution for you, not all surgeons are like that.
But I guess you could always go for monovision, and have your husband move the fence, then that problem should be solved
Lol… Tusind tak!
Anne,
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The current surgeon Mr Zeiss who we went with, did say about Trifocals being good but also mentioned something about newer bifocals being ok. I have no idea which bifocals he meant.
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We did not press him more on the bifocal part as we were not interested in them plus in the first meeting it was very difficult to interrupt him as he was trying to give us lot of info and assumed that we knew nothing
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So my point is that they might still be ok for you but why not just go with monofocals and use bifocal contacts or glasses? Reduces your risk considerably.
If you had a bad experience with monovision, it’s understandable you are hesitant. What was the difference between the eyes? i tried it with contacts when I was 40, with a difference of -2.25, and immediately hated it. I was driving and lost all depth perception. I refused at that time. However, they now know that the difference must be less than 2 diopters for most brains to tolerate it.
Danish Viking mentioned contrast loss and I should too. It is significant: I can’t pick a hang nail clearly because the contrast of skin on skin isn’t enough for me to distinguish it. I also notice the fainter contrast with newsprint.
@Danish_Viking, do you notice the lesser contrast? Your history is different so I’m curious to hear.
I have lots of contrast, more than I have ever had before, my world have become very bright and all colors are really powerful, and differences in contrast have become very clear, I see things I have never seen before.