One point on the "tradeoffs in visual quality" - the people having this procedure already have significantly reduced visual quality due to the cataracts.  I just had mine done and got multifocals.  My experience is that my visual quality is drastically improved because my point of comparison isn't perfect vision, but significantly degraded vision.

Excellent. I've been waiting to afford the expensive lenses but am fortunate i had to wait to be better able to decide what i want.  I'm 73, near sighted and wore glasses all my life. I cannot stand it if there is the smallest smudge on the glasses and it even drives crazy when i see people wearing glasses with finger prints all over them. I'm going to watch the videos of multifocal and edof lenses again with your comments in mind.

In under 13.5 minutes you have helped me more than the hours of research I've been trying to do.  Thank you so very much, Dr. Chua.

Great video! Doctor 🙏 Informational & very educational Thank you 👍🏻🇺🇸

Finally an honest ophthalmologist….not discussing mini monovision is when the surgeon turns into a salesman. I had a large practice of middle and lower income patients (I was the only ophthalmologist in 100 mile radius who accepted Medicaid) so I put all my patients in mini monovision and out of thousands of cases not a single patient couldn’t adapt easily. The key is the mini keep the difference to one diopter or less plus the aspheric lenses help. Want more proof if you have patients with very low correction that have like .75 anismetropia fhese  patients often go w/o glasses w/o  problems. Pre operative testing? Unproven and unnecessary. The number one reason patients came to me was problems with night driving it seemed ridiculous to me to give them a lens which was particularly poor for night driving. All these testimonials about how great the multifocal lenses are…..most patients are extremely happy with cataract surgery no matter what lens you put in and all buyers of expensive things want to believe they made the right choice. Plus all these testimonials are kinda BS let’s accept it’s unknowable you never tried the other options. It’s not like test driving two sports cars.

Dr. Chua, you are the greatest for explaining things. I wish that my doctor would be as good as you are at explaining.

Outstandingly clear explanation - thanks

I have the Odyssey lens and am beyond thrilled

I had cataract surgery in March and April. I had worn mono vision contacts for approximately 15 years. We decided to do the same with the new lenses. I am pleased. Best vision I’ve ever had. Of course different thoughts and ideas continue to pop up. I’m curious as to how well EDOF lenses would have worked? One set for distance to medium and the other set for near to medium. Sort of an enhanced mono vision.

OMG! I am so glad that you mentioned Type A (or anyone on the spectrum) because whilst listening I was wondering how I would be able to explain to my doctor that I didn’t think a particular procedure would be suitable for me because I just know in my heart of hearts, that it would more than likely drive me nuts. Thank you for including us!

Thank you very much for this really excellent discussion of the challenges that multifocal IOLs pose. I understand the issues a lot better now. I might opt for cataract surgery in the reasonable future, so at this time I am educating myself as best as I can. Your point about multifocal lenses not being a good idea for people who drive a lot is interesting for me. I am not a professional driver, but I do drive my wife around to numerous doctor appointments because she is immunocompromised and in poor health. She cannot drive in highway traffic at all and generally must be driven to appointments that are more than 2 miles from home. So I bring her to quite a few places and I need my elderly eyes to be in tip top shape for driving. Smile. In summary, I really appreciate this video; I have learned from you.

Well done, Michael for bring up type A personality.  Not enough is said about peoples personalities when dealing with issues.  I wish I had seen this video before embarking on my surgery.

Yeahh..Type A here. I had lasik, then several yrs later i had cataract surgery. NOONE discussed with me much on monovision. Anyway i was going to have lasik done again for close up and far away..monovision but needed cataract surgery first. So i got first eye done. OMG i was sick to my stomach, dizzy, couldnt walk. my depth perception was way off. they said many people do very well with monovision and thats what i was going to do (lasik again)....thats when i realized after my first cateract surgery that it was a h*ll no...I had to have other eye done for cataracts 3 weeks into this...when the waiting period was 6 weeks. That was a nightmare being so sick and dizzy like that. SOOOO got second eye done and what a relief. I was back to normal. Thats when it was a no for me on lasik again. I am glad I also got the clear lens at cataract surgery. what you call normal lens. I didnt have money for prescription lens. NOW I am in the middle of RETINA surgery. SIGH. I have had first eye done...i am good..no depth perception screwy stuff. BUT my eye did bleed causing me to be blind in that eye.It was filled with blood and blocking my eyesight. Dr inserted a needle into my eye that would stop the bleeding. it did..but i now have dried blood. So we are waiting for this one to compeltely heal before doing the next..although i went ahead and am scheduled for the 15th of June. i can see again..although i am not back 20/20. I am like 20/30 and yep..got some night halos happening. i hope the next surgery goes much better and i am sure the dr will take extra precautions. said this was the first in 2 yrs that this had happened. but yep..after cateract surgery my close up vison..that i still had..was gone. NOW I WEAR glasses for reading and I HATE IT. but i can see pretty good far away. there is no winning.

Cataracts are a journey, not a one-time quick fix, even though the procedure is completely painless.

Just had cataract surgery on one eye, using a mono-focal lens. There is haze all the time because of micro-wrinkling. This is common and either resolves in a few months or requires the same procedure as post capsular opacification (cell growth between the lens and the inner bag side). Then I have halos at night, which is due to my pupils opening to 8mm, therefore light rays miss the lens, and for that one uses brimodine eye drops, then the pupil shrinks to about 5mm.

I will wait until the haze subsides before doing the second eye, if I can tolerate it due to anisoeikonia (different image sizes in both eyes causing headaches due to difficulties reconciling them for depth perception).

Great video. You confirmed that I made the right decision to go with the standard lens.

fantastic and clear. Thank you doctor!

Excellent video....thanks!! I'm post-Lasik (from back in 2002) I appreciate your references to this.....thinking that a standard monofocal might be the way to go.....

You didn’t talk about EDOF lenses like PhreSee

How come we still can't make a lens from a material that can stretch SLIGHTLY. How is that an unsolvable problem? How come we need to put rigid plastic? Why don't we make it less rigid to be able to stretch a bit? How has this field not progressed for decades, I mean the materials, not the procedure. Maybe we need a slightly different material, where is it, why don't we have it yet? The procedure has significantly improved. But I am really baffled by the fact that we still put the rigid plastic monofocal lenses in 2026.

What about the EDofF lens without the concentric rings? I.e. non-defractive lenses? You seem to completely skip them.