Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of visual impairment in industrialized countries, and profoundly affects the quality of life of those who suffer from it. It affects the macula, the central area of the retina responsible for sharp and detailed vision — reading, recognizing a face, driving. As the disease progresses, central vision becomes blurred or distorted, while peripheral vision often remains intact.
There are therapies to slow down some forms of AMD, particularly the wet form, but for many patients — especially those living with the dry form or advanced scarring — options have long been limited. This is where EyeMax Mono comes in, an intraocular lens designed for those living with maculopathy: not a cure, but a way to optimize residual vision by utilizing the still-healthy areas of the retina.
What is EyeMax Mono
EyeMax Mono is an intraocular lens, but an unconventional one: it belongs to a new generation of IOLs designed specifically for people with macular degeneration. It is made of a flexible and biocompatible acrylic material and is the result of an international collaboration between Dr. Bobby Qureshi of the London Eye Hospital and Prof. Pablo Artal of the University of Murcia. It is manufactured by SharpView Ophthalmology Limited and has obtained CE marking (number 2460).
Its optical design — transverse asphericity — works almost like a wide-angle lens: it doesn’t just focus on the center of vision, which is often damaged, but extends and optimizes image quality even on the still-healthy peripheral areas of the macula. The detailed mechanism, along with complete clinical data, can be found on the dedicated EyeMax Mono page.
Concrete benefits for patients
The main benefit is a measurable improvement in visual acuity, for both distance and near vision. The reference study — conducted by Qureshi and colleagues on 244 patients with AMD, published in the European Journal of Ophthalmology in 2018 — measured an average improvement of 18 ETDRS letters, a gain that often translates into greater ease in reading and recognizing faces and details. Results vary from person to person, depending on the severity of the disease and the extent of the residual healthy macular area.
Beyond the visual gain, it is important to highlight the safety of the procedure: implantation takes place during standard cataract surgery or as a secondary procedure, with operative risks considered no greater than those of cataract surgery itself. The manufacturer currently reports published data on nearly 700 eyes, with a safety profile comparable to that of standard monofocal IOLs and no reports in the literature of safety issues or explantation related to the lens.
The impact on quality of life can be significant: seeing the faces of loved ones more clearly, moving around with greater confidence, gaining autonomy in daily activities. However, it is important to have realistic expectations: EyeMax Mono is not a cure for macular degeneration. The underlying disease is not stopped by the lens, and its progression — especially geographic atrophy in the dry form — can reduce the benefits obtained over time if it also involves the peripheral macular areas.
The surgical procedure
In most cases, implantation takes place during the same session as cataract surgery, replacing the natural lens with EyeMax Mono. However, the lens can also be implanted in those who have already undergone cataract surgery in the past, through a dedicated secondary procedure.
It is an established microsurgical technique: a corneal incision of about 2.6 millimeters, through which the flexible lens is folded, inserted with a dedicated injector, and allowed to gently unfold in its place. The procedure is almost always performed under local anesthesia (drops or peribulbar) and is painless; it generally lasts 10-15 minutes per eye. Thanks to the minimally invasive nature of the technique, it is performed as a day surgery: patients return home the same day, without an overnight stay.
Post-operative recovery is generally rapid. Antibiotic and anti-inflammatory eye drops are prescribed for a few weeks, and the ophthalmologist will evaluate during follow-up visits whether a new correction with glasses is necessary, also to make the most of the lens’s slight magnifying effect.
Who can benefit from it
The lens is primarily designed for those with dry age-related macular degeneration, at any stage — from the earliest to advanced geographic atrophy — provided that a functionally valid portion of the peripheral macula remains. It can also be considered for stabilized forms of wet AMD, and for other pathologies that compromise central vision while maintaining stable fixation, such as macular hole, Stargardt disease, macular scar, central serous chorioretinopathy (CSR), epiretinal membrane, and acquired vitelliform lesions (AVL) — subretinal deposits that can appear in various macular pathologies.
The surgery can also be offered to those who already have a standard intraocular lens implanted in the past, with a secondary implantation. Pre-operative evaluation — with exams such as OCT and microperimetry — is crucial to estimate the potential benefit: the complete list of official indications is on the dedicated EyeMax Mono page.
Conclusions
EyeMax Mono represents a concrete step forward in the management of maculopathy: not a cure, but a tool to make the most of the still-healthy retinal areas, helping the brain adapt through the preferred retinal locus. The reported benefits — in distance and near vision, in reading, in quality of life — are real, but they depend on the individual situation of each patient. Only an accurate specialist evaluation can determine whether EyeMax Mono is the right choice, considering the stage of the disease, the extent of the macular damage, and the functionality of the residual peripheral retina.
Sources
- Qureshi M.A. et al., “Consecutive case series of 244 age-related macular degeneration patients undergoing implantation with an extended macular vision IOL”, European Journal of Ophthalmology, 2018.
- SharpView Ophthalmology, Data Summary EyeMax Mono, March 2025.
The information presented in this article is for informational and educational purposes only and in no way replaces the advice of an ophthalmologist. For any doubts or needs regarding your eye health, it is essential to consult a specialist.
