Making an easy transition to multifocal IOLs

Carl Zeiss Meditec, in conjunction with Ophthalmology Times Europe, recently surveyed cataract and refractive surgeons across Europe to ascertain their attitudes towards multifocal IOLs. The results were revealed at a live event on the second morning of the ESCRS, attended by over 50 delegates.

Moderating the session was Dr Patrick Versace from Australia who also spoke about the expectations of the patient and the surgeon. He informed the audience that even though it had been found in a separate survey that patients would choose multifocal IOLs given the option, the OTEurope survey found that surgeons were reluctant to offer them because of their fears regarding patient dissatisfaction.

Dr Roberto Zaldivar continued the discussion looking at what both parties want from multifocal IOLs and Dr Dandapani Ramamurthy addressed the issues around aberration correction/rotational stability, centration, pupil independence and range of refraction. Halos and glare after surgery, was the topic of Dr Roger Zaldivar's presentation.

At this point it was clear that management of the patient's expectations is a critically important factor in obtaining a good response post-op. Dr Johannes Weisensee covered this and invited two of his patients to share their experiences with the session. The patients, Mrs Madeleine Kaiser and Mr Peter Wehner, had both suffered from myopia and presbyopia and they offered an insight into how they felt going into an operation and the consequences afterwards. "I have suffered with poor eyesight all my life and when the opportunity to undergo clear lens extraction was explained to me I jumped at it," explained Mrs Kaiser. "It is the best decision I have ever made." Despite continuing to experience halos, difficulty in reading in low light she now has excellent distance vision, no other problems reading and her quality of life has improved phenomenally.

In summing up Dr Versace remarked on the costs associated with introducing multifocal lenses into a practice. "There is really no specific cost in introducing multifocal IOLs into your practice, but what I would ask is whether as doctors we can afford not to by way of losing patients."

A more detailed look at the event will appear in OTEurope's November issue.