The satisfaction figures for extended depth of focus and multifocal lenses are high, and they are averages. The patients who are unhappy are consistent: people who drive at night, work in low light, or do detailed close work in poor illumination. Contrast and glare are what those lenses trade.
So make the question specific before the biometry, not after the second eye. Do you drive after dark, and how often? Do you read in the evening? Any night-time work? A patient who drives a two-wheeler home after a late shift is being asked to accept a real cost for spectacle independence they may value less than you assume.
Write the answer in the notes. The conversation that prevents a complaint is the one recorded before the lens was ordered.
- Ask about night driving, low-light work and evening reading explicitly.
- Explain that glare and halos are expected, not complications.
- Discuss the low-contrast trade-off in plain terms before the lens is chosen.
- Record the discussion and the patient's stated priority.
- Revisit the target for the second eye based on how the first one performed in their life.
Why it matters
The visual cost of these lenses falls on tasks nobody asks about at the pre-assessment.
Read the rest in the app
You have read your two free briefings this month. The app carries all 27 specialties, every morning, free — and this finding is waiting in it.
Scan to keep reading on your phone. No account needed to start.
Tomorrow morning, before your first patient
One edition a day for ophthalmology, written by the desk, every claim tied to its paper. Six minutes.
Get the app — free