In cataract surgery, different lenses may be preferred according to the patient’s condition and needs. Since the main purpose of the surgical operation is to enable the patient to regain his/her vision and to improve the quality of vision, the issue of which lens to prefer should be given special importance. Of course, it will be the specialist doctor who will make the main decision here, but let’s make a generalization and let’s see what types of lenses are used in cataract surgery and what kind of features they have.
Lenses Used in Cataract Surgery
For the sake of clarity, let’s consider the lenses sequentially and evaluate their individual characteristics.
Toric Lenses
It is one of the preferred lens types for astigmatism patients. In astigmatism, the beam coming to the eye cannot be focused correctly at a single point. As a result, distortions in vision occur. Toric lenses can also be preferred to correct astigmatism.
Multifocal Lenses
This type of lens has multiple corrective zones, rings. We can also make an analogy to glasses with progressive lenses. They have different focusing in different graduated areas of the lens, allowing for distance vision, near vision and intermediate vision. They are preferred to show both near and far distances clearly.
Monofocal Lenses with Fixed Focus
These lenses have a single focusing power and are preferred for distance vision. The patient may also need to wear near glasses after the insertion of fixed focus lenses, which are among the lenses used in cataract surgery.
EDOF Lenses with Increased Depth of Focus
These lenses, which increase the depth of focus and are called EDOF, have fewer rings than multifocal lenses. The lenses, in which the focal distances are increased by various methods, are especially preferred to show the far and middle distance clearly. Lenses that minimize the complaints experienced with multifocal lenses are preferred especially in patients who are not suitable for multifocal.
In general, we can list the lenses used in cataract surgery in this way. Of course, there are also lenses with different nomenclature, sometimes named differently in terms of marketing strategy. In the most general sense, we can use this lens classification above.
