Clinical Performance of New Enhanced Monofocal Intraocular Lenses: Comparison of Hydrophobic C-loop and Hydrophilic Plate-Haptic Platform

Introduction Enhanced monofocal intraocular lenses (IOLs) represent a new type of lens, which should lead to a very good distance vision similar to monofocal IOLs and an improved intermediate vision without increasing the risk for photic phenomena. Methods The aim of this clinical observation/registry study was to directly compare two different IOL platforms (hydrophilic acrylic L-333 (group A) vs hydrophobic acrylic AN6Q (group B)) with the same enhanced monofocal optic principle but different material and haptic design in clinical routine. A total of 102 cataract cases (51:51) were included in the study. Groups A and B were similar regarding demographics, age (71.6 ± 9 years for L-333 and 73.6 ± 8 years for AN6Q) and their calculated IOL power (20.9 ± 2.0 D for L-333 and 21.5 ± 3.4 D for AN6Q). Spherical equivalent (SE), (un)corrected distance, intermediate visual acuity, the surgeons’ experience and patient feedback were assessed postoperatively. Results SE improved significantly in the AN6Q group, while the L-333 group showed a slightly smaller standard deviation postoperatively. In group A the uncorrected distance visual acuity (UDVA) improved from pre-op (0.43 ± 0.16 logMAR) to 1 month post-op (0.06 ± 0.04 logMAR) significantly and in group B from pre-op (0.54 ± 0.19 logMAR) to (0.05 ± 0.06 logMAR) postoperatively. Both groups showed excellent outcomes for distance without negative side effects. On testing uncorrected intermediate vision (80 cm) with Radner charts, 80% reached line 5 (0.0 logRAD) with fewer than one mistake and 10% reached line 4 (− 0.1 logRAD) in group A; 74% reached line 5 with fewer than one mistake and 4% reached line 4 in group B. Conclusion Both IOL models (groups A and B) provided satisfying results regarding implantation behaviour, refractive error, visual acuity and overall patient satisfaction. The haptic design might influence the outcome of refractive error. Long-term follow-up data should be considered in multicentre studies to further characterize both platforms and to optimize IOL power calculation (constants, surgeon factor). It was shown that the enhanced monofocal optic can provide good visual acuity for far distance and improve intermediate distance. This type of new monofocal optic design, which however must be strictly separated from typical refractive/diffractive multifocal, presbyopia-correcting lenses, could be a good option in standard cataract care.