FUNCTIONAL FINDINGS AFTER BILATERAL IMPLA NTATION OF A FOLDABLE REFRACTIVE MULTIFOCAL POSTERIOR CHAMBER LENS

Background Clinical studies of multifocal intraocular lenses have prim arily investigated functional results unilaterally. In the following s tudy we have examined functional results after bilateral implantation of a refractive multifocal intraocular lens, which had already shown g ood results with unilateral testing situations. Materials and Methods After implantation of 36 foldable refractive multifocal posterior-cham ber lenses in 25 patients we compared two patient groups concerning fu nctional results: 11 patients with bilateral implantation against 14 p atients with unilateral implantation of this lens type. We tested bino cular function of distance visual acuity, near visual acuity, depth of focus, stereopsis, glare visual acuity and contrast sensitivity. Resu lts The patients with bilateral implantation had a significantly bette r distance visual acuity, depth of focus and stereopsis tested accordi ng to Lang. Stereopsis tested according to Randot or Titmus and near v isual acuity were not significantly but in trend better in patients wi th bilateral implantation. There were no differences in glare visual a cuity or contrast sensitivity. The patients with bilateral implantatio n used more seldom glasses for reading, but they did not describe more disturbing optical phenomenons. Conclusions Having a satisfied patien t with a multifocal lens in one eye the implantation of the same type of lens into the Second eye will bring further functional advantage to the patient.