Are bifocal intraocular posterior chamber lenses superior to monofocals?

Twenty-eight eyes of 26 patients underwent a phacoemulsification with implantation of a bifocal posterior chamber lens (Storz-True Vista). The mean visual acuity increased from 0.28 to 0.74. To obtain best visual acuity for near, 19 eyes needed additional reading addition. A subgroup of 14 patients underwent also a phacoemulsification with implantation of a monofocal posterior chamber lens into the other eye. The mean visual acuity increased from 0.25 to 0.84. All monofocal eyes obtained an optimal near vision with a reading addition of 3 diopters. In this subgroup 9 patients preferred their monofocal eye for distance vision and 10 for near vision. Not a single patient preferred the bifocal eye.