Aim To compare monocular and binocular visual function between eyes with a distance-dominant diffractive multifocal intraocular lens (IOL) with low addition power (+2.5 dioptres (D)) and eyes with a monofocal IOL.

Methods Sixty-four eyes of 32 patients undergoing implantation of a diffractive multifocal IOL (Alcon ReSTOR +2.5 D, SN6AD2) with a +2.5 D addition and 64 eyes of 32 age-matched patients undergoing implantation of a monofocal IOL (SN60WF) were recruited. At 3 months postoperatively, visual acuity (VA) from far to near distances, contrast VA and that with glare (glare VA), glare disability and glare and halo symptoms were evaluated.

Results For monocular and binocular VA, mean uncorrected and distance-corrected near VA at 0.3 m and intermediate VA at 0.5 m were significantly better in the multifocal group than in the monofocal group (p≤0.0412). VA at other distances did not differ significantly between groups. Photopic and mesopic contrast VA and glare VA and glare disability were similar between groups. The percentage of patients who reported glare symptoms did not differ significantly between groups, while the percentage of patients who reported halo symptoms was greater in the multifocal group (p=0.0009).

Conclusions A distance-dominant diffractive multifocal IOL with +2.5 D near addition provided useful VA at far and intermediate distances. Contrast sensitivity with and without glare and glare symptom with this multifocal IOL were comparable between the multifocal and monofocal IOLs, although halo symptoms were more prominent with the multifocal IOL.