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Cataract surgery has advanced to an operation that is now outpatient, requires minimal anesthesia, takes less than 10 minutes, and is sutureless, low risk, with visual recovery from just hours to a few days. Despite these advances however, the problem of being able to focus at more than one distance without the use of external visual aids such as contact lenses or glasses has remained elusive.
This is because the implant could only focus vision at one single point. Thus the implants being alled "monofocal." This meant that with the exception of monovision, where one eye is purposely focused for near and the other for far vision, the patient needed external aids to properly focus.
There are three implantable intraocular lenses which allow the patient to focus at different distances with minimal dependence on external aids. These are called "multifocal "or "bifocal" lens implants.
These lenses can be implanted during cataract surgery or during refractive surgery in those over 40 years of age or others who depend on glasses for either far or near vision or both, as a better alternative to Lasik surgery. In this procedure, the lens inside the eye is removed and replaced by an implant not because vision is deteriorating from a cataract, but because the patient is seeking, as in considering Lasik surgery to improve visual function and become less dependent on external visual aids.
Some adaptive break-in time to the new lenses may be necessary as the brain adjusts to the new situation. Glare and halos may also be noticed especially under low light conditions, but most patients overcome this.