During the past decade there has been an ongoing effort to improve the technology and IOL designs to provide the best visual performance at all distances for every patient undergoing cataract surgery. This study aimed to compare the quality of vision and patient satisfaction after cataract surgery with three different types of intraocular lenses (IOLs): the monofocal-plus Eyhance IOL, the monofocal Sensar IOL, and the multifocal Synergy IOL. The Eyhance IOL is a novel monofocal IOL with a modified aspheric anterior surface and a continuous power gradient from the periphery to the center of the lens, which is designed to improve intermediate vision, reduce spherical aberrations, and avoid the drawbacks of multifocal IOLs, such as night halos and glare.(9)
One of the main outcome measures of this study was the distance visual acuity (VA), which showed no significant differences among the three IOLs. This indicates that the preoperative target refraction and the postoperative residual refraction were well matched for all three IOLs. Moreover, the mean change in distance VA before and after surgery was similar for all three IOLs. These results are consistent with those of Cinar et al (2020), who compared the postoperative VA between the Eyhance IOL and a monofocal IOL (SN60WF IQ AcrySof, Alcon) and found no significant differences in corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA), uncorrected distance visual acuity (UDVA), or corrected near visual acuity (CNVA) between the two groups.
Previous studies on the Eyhance IOL focused on its intermediate performance and used small sample sizes.(5, 6, 10–12) No comprehensive evaluation of this lens and its comparison with other IOLs has been conducted. We hypothesized that the Eyhance lens would provide superior visual parameters and subjective comfort than other lenses and eliminate the need for intermediate correction.
Another main outcome measure of this study were the intermediate and near VA. The multifocal Synergy IOL showed superior performance in intermediate and near VA compared with the two monofocal IOLs, which is expected given its design to provide a continuous range of vision from far to near. The Eyhance IOL, on the other hand, showed similar performance to the Sensar IOL in intermediate and near VA, which is contrary to some previous studies that reported better intermediate VA with the Eyhance IOL than with other monofocal IOLs.(9, 11) A possible explanation for this discrepancy could be the different methods of measuring intermediate VA, the different definitions of intermediate distance, or the different inclusion and exclusion criteria of the studies. For example, Jeon and colleagues compared the extended depth of focus (EDOF) ZXR00 Symphony IOL with the Eyhance IOL and found no significant differences in UCDVA, CDVA, or uncorrected intermediate visual acuity (UIVA) between the two groups, but a significant difference in uncorrected near visual acuity (UNVA) in favour of the Symphony IOL.(13)
Rocha and coworkers compared the spherical AcrySof SN60AT IOL, the aspheric AcrySof IQ IOL, and the spherical Sensar AR40 IOL on 40 eyes and found no significant differences in distance VA among the three groups, but significant differences in distance corrected intermediate acuity (DCIVA) and distance corrected near acuity (DCNVA) in favor of the AcrySof SN60AT IOL (P < 0.05).(14)
A secondary outcome measure of this study was the contrast sensitivity (CS) of the patients implanted with the three different types of IOLs. The results showed that the Eyhance IOL had better CS than the Synergy IOL at both distance and near vision, which could be explained by the different designs of the two IOLs. The Synergy IOL has a concentric ring design that splits the light into two foci, which may reduce the CS and cause visual disturbances, such as dysphotopsia - halos, and glare.(15) The Eyhance IOL has a modified aspheric anterior surface and a continuous power gradient that extends the depth of focus, which may improve the CS and avoid the drawbacks of the multifocal IOLs.(6) This suggests that the Eyhance IOL may be a better option for patients who are sensitive to halos or glare or who have high visual demands. These results are consistent with those of Unsal and Sabur, who found no difference in photopic CS for any spatial frequency between the Eyhance IOL and a monofocal IOL (Tecnis 1-piece).(10) However, there are no studies that directly compare the CS between the Eyhance IOL and the multifocal IOLs, which limits the generalizability of our findings.
Our findings are in line with a previous study by Kim and colleagues from 2007, who also reported lower CS in the multifocal group than in the monofocal group. Our study confirms that multifocal IOLs may compromise the quality of vision in terms of CS, which is an important factor for visual function and satisfaction.(16) Therefore, careful selection of IOLs based on the individual needs and preferences of patients is essential to optimize their postoperative outcomes.
Sensar is a conventional monofocal IOL that does not split the light into multiple foci, while Synergy is a multifocal IOL that provides a continuous range of vision. We found that the CS of the Sensar IOL was comparable to that of the Synergy IOL at both distance and near vision. This finding was unexpected, as we hypothesized that the Synergy IOL would have lower CS due to the light-splitting effect. A possible explanation for this finding could be the influence of the different materials or optical properties of the two IOLs on the CS. For instance, Kim et al reported that the CS of patients who received a multifocal silicone IOL (Array SA40N) was significantly lower than that of patients who received a monofocal silicone IOL (SI40NB) across all spatial frequencies tested (p < 0.01).(16) This result is consistent with our finding that the multifocal group had lower CS than the monofocal group. However, Kim et al used different types of IOLs than we did, which may have different impacts on the CS. Therefore, more research is required to compare the CS of the Sensar IOL and the Synergy IOL with other types of IOLs.
We also evaluated the patient satisfaction with the outcomes of the surgery as a third outcome measure. We found no correlation between VA, CS and patients’ subjective visual satisfaction, nor any significant difference in overall visual comfort among the three IOLs. However, patients who received the Synergy IOL reported higher subjective quality of vision at intermediate than those who received the other two IOLs. This result is in line with a recent study by Tanabe et al., who showed greater satisfaction with the multifocal IOL than with the monofocal IOL.(17) Another study by Wilkins et al conducted a randomized trial in 2013, where they compared the Tecnis ZM900 diffractive multifocal IOL (Abbott Medical Optics) with the Akreos AO monofocal IOL (Bausch & Lomb, Ltd) targeted for monovision. They reported no significant difference in satisfaction between the groups (85% satisfied with monovision and 81% satisfied with multifocal; P = 0.46), which is similar to our finding, except that they found higher satisfaction with the multifocal lens for intermediate tasks.(18)
One of the limitations of our study is the sample size, which was determined by a power analysis to be sufficient. We used a validated subjective questionnaire that had some limitations regarding our research questions. The questionnaire did not include any questions regarding intermediate range, which is crucial for assessing this type of IOL. We addressed this limitation by adding three questions about intermediate vision to the questionnaire. Another potential limitation of our study could be affiliation bias, since the participants were recruited from a private clinic of one surgeon and may have similar baseline characteristics. However, this could bias the results towards the null hypothesis. The fact that all participants in our study underwent their surgery with the same surgeon is also an advantage, as it eliminates the variability in the visual outcomes of the patients that could be attributed to different surgeons. The main strength of our study is the comparison of the three lenses- monofocal Sensar, newly-designed monofocal Eyhance and multifocal Synergy- with multiple visual outcomes and patient satisfaction.