JCRS Highlights Vol: 42 Issue: 8 Month: August 2016

Threshold limit of postoperative astigmatism for patient satisfaction after refractive lens exchange and multifocal intraocular lens implantation

Unhappy multifocal intraocular lens (IOL) patients report such problems as glare, halos and reduced contrast. Patients also complain of substandard near or intermediate vision, where uncorrected astigmatism could play a role. A new rotationally asymmetric multifocal IOL appears to provide good visual acuity, even in the presence of varying amounts of residual refractive astigmatism or corneal astigmatism. McNeely and colleagues report a retrospective comparative case series in which 117 patients had been implanted with the Lentis Mplus LS-312 MF30 IOL. They evaluated the postoperative degree of tolerance towards different magnitudes of residual refractive astigmatism and corneal astigmatism, and the angles of corneal astigmatism in these patients. While there was a significant difference in uncorrected distance visual acuity (UDVA), refractive sphere, and defocus equivalent between the residual refractive astigmatism groups, there was no difference in quality of vision. Similarly, no difference was found for corneal astigmatism with UDVA and quality of vision. Overall, the angle of the residual corneal astigmatism in relation to the position of the multifocal IOL did not affect objective outcomes or the overall patient satisfaction rates.

RN McNeely et al, JCRS, “Threshold limit of postoperative astigmatism for patient satisfaction after refractive lens exchange and multifocal intraocular lens implantation”, Volume 42, Issue 8, 1126-1134.