The influence of personality on the quality of vision after multifocal intraocular lens implantation

Abstract

Objective: To assess the possible correlation between patients’ personality traits and subjective perception of quality of vision (QoV), after multifocal intraocular lens (mIOL) implantation. Methods: patients who had bilateral implantation of a non-diffractive X-WAVE or a trifocal lens were assessed 6 months postoperatively. Patients answered the NEO-Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI-20) questionnaire (“Big Five five-factor personality model”) to examine their personality. Six months following surgery, patients were asked to fill a QoV questionnaire where they graded the frequency of 10 common visual symptoms. Primary outcomes were to evaluate the correlation between personality scores and the reported frequency of visual disturbances. Results: The study comprised 20 patients submitted to bilateral cataract surgery, 10 with a non-diffractive X-WAVE lens (AcrySof® IQ Vivity) and 10 with a trifocal lens (AcrySof® IQ PanOptix). Mean age was 60.23 (7.06) years. Six months following surgery, patients with lower scores of conscientiousness and extroversion reported a higher frequency of visual disturbances (blurred vision, P =.015 and P =.009, seeing double images P =.018 and P =.006, and having difficulties focusing, P =.027 and P =.022, respectively). In addition, patients with high neuroticism scores had more difficulty focusing (P =.033). Conclusions: In this study, personality traits such as low conscientiousness and extroversion and high neuroticism significantly influenced QoV perception 6 months after bilateral multifocal lens implantation. Patients’ personality questionnaires could be a useful preoperative assessment test to a mIOL.