Enhanced monofocal lenses such as Eyhance: what do they add after cataract surgery, and what can they not do?

"I don't want a multifocal lens because I've heard about halos around lights at night, but I spend my day in front of a computer. Is there a middle option?" This question is exactly what a group of lenses called enhanced monofocal lenses was designed for. The best known in the studies is the Eyhance lens. Studies show that these lenses add a modest but real improvement in intermediate vision, without losing distance clarity. But they are not multifocal lenses, and they do not usually replace reading glasses.

What is an enhanced monofocal lens?

A standard monofocal lens focuses vision at one distance, usually far. You see the road and the television clearly, and you need glasses for reading. Between far and near lies intermediate distance, roughly half a meter to one meter away from you: a computer screen, a car dashboard, kitchen tools, and the face of the person sitting across from you.

An enhanced monofocal lens is a monofocal lens at its core, but its front surface is designed with a subtle change in curvature that stretches vision a little toward intermediate distance (Auffarth et al., 2021). It does not split light into several focal points the way multifocal lenses do. So it was expected to keep the distance image and the low rate of halos, and this is what studies tested.

This group is not limited to one company. A Japanese trial compared three enhanced lenses from different companies, including Eyhance, with a standard monofocal lens (Hayashi et al., 2025).

What does it actually add?

In an analysis of 12 studies, including 3 randomized trials, covering 680 eyes with the Eyhance lens and 647 eyes with a standard monofocal lens, intermediate vision without glasses was better with the enhanced lens by about one line on the letter chart for each eye. The chance of not needing glasses at intermediate distance was clearly higher. Distance vision did not differ, nor did contrast sensitivity, halos or complications (Wan et al., 2022).

In a European multicenter trial of 139 patients, intermediate vision improved by at least one line with the enhanced lens after 6 months, distance vision stayed similar to the standard lens, and the two lenses were similar in contrast and light phenomena (Auffarth et al., 2021).

The most important part of the picture is that the Japanese trial, whose researchers declared no financial interest, confirmed the same direction in 344 eyes. Intermediate vision at distances from half a meter to one meter was better with all three enhanced lenses, with no difference in distance vision, in contrast in good and dim light, or in halos and glare (Hayashi et al., 2025).

What does it not do?

Reading fine print without glasses. In the Japanese trial, vision at 30 cm, the reading distance, did not differ between the enhanced lenses and the standard lens (Hayashi et al., 2025). The pooled analysis found an improvement in near vision with both eyes together (Wan et al., 2022), but this does not mean being able to read small print. In a small Egyptian study of 34 eyes with the Eyhance lens, patients still needed reading glasses of an average power of 1.6 diopters at 40 cm (Abd Elghaffar Shehata et al., 2022). So the realistic expectation is that you will need glasses for fine reading in most cases.

Cancelling out other factors. Residual astigmatism after surgery is the strongest factor in how clearly you see without glasses (Hasegawa et al., 2022), and the enhanced lens does not make up for it. The researchers of the European trial noted that their patients' eyes were healthier than those of patients in general (Auffarth et al., 2021), so these results cannot simply be applied to eyes with retinal disease.

Knowing what happens years later. Follow-up in the two randomized trials mentioned was 2 months and 6 months (Hayashi et al., 2025; Auffarth et al., 2021), and the whole pooled analysis concerns a single model, Eyhance (Wan et al., 2022). Results from one model should not be generalized to every lens described as "enhanced."

Is it the same as an extended depth of focus lens?

No. Extended depth of focus (EDOF) lenses are another category that aims to extend the range of clear vision from far to intermediate distance. A comparative analysis found that they give better intermediate vision than monofocal lenses (Cho et al., 2022). But each category has its own design and its own evidence, and the results of one do not carry over to the other.

Trade names and marketing descriptions alone are not enough to tell them apart. That is why researchers, after reviewing 107 studies, proposed classifying lenses by the range of clear vision they actually achieve in testing, not by trade name (Fernández et al., 2024). Even among enhanced lenses themselves, laboratory tests carried out by employees of the company that makes one of them showed that they differ in how much pupil size affects them (Alarcon et al., 2023). This is a laboratory result that needs confirmation in patients.

Who might benefit from it?

An enhanced lens may be a reasonable choice for someone who wants the distance clarity of a monofocal lens, benefits from a small improvement at intermediate distance, and does not want to risk the halos linked to multifocal lenses (de Silva et al., 2016). It may add little for someone whose main goal is to stop using reading glasses. Multifocal lenses come closer to that goal, with their price in halos and glare (de Silva et al., 2016). We explain these types in our article on choosing an intraocular lens.

If it costs more than a standard monofocal lens, what you are mainly paying for is this improvement at intermediate distance, not a sharper distance image. We discuss with each patient the distance they need most in their day before choosing.

Questions patients often ask

Will I no longer need reading glasses?

Usually you will still need them. The enhanced lens improves intermediate distance, while fine reading usually still requires glasses (Hayashi et al., 2025; Abd Elghaffar Shehata et al., 2022).

Does it cause halos around lights like multifocal lenses?

In the available studies, halos and glare with it did not differ from a standard monofocal lens (Wan et al., 2022; Hayashi et al., 2025).

Will my distance vision be reduced?

Studies did not show a difference in distance vision between it and a standard monofocal lens (Wan et al., 2022; Auffarth et al., 2021). But finding no difference in short-term studies does not guarantee the same result for every eye.

Is it suitable if I have retinal disease?

The evidence here is limited; the European trial, for example, was done in patients whose eyes were healthier than those of patients in general (Auffarth et al., 2021). This is decided by the condition of the retina and macula on examination.

Summary

An enhanced monofocal lens is a monofocal lens at its core that adds about one line at intermediate distance, with distance vision, contrast and halos similar to a standard lens in the available studies. But it does not usually replace reading glasses, its evidence is short-term, and most of it concerns a single model. Its real value is for people who need intermediate distance in their day and accept glasses for fine reading. You can compare it with other designs in our article on spherical and aspheric lenses.

This information is for health education and does not replace a medical examination.