Many patients opt for standard surgery, which simply means they are choosing a monofocal lens implant for the procedure. A monofocal lens offers one visual goal following the surgery.
For instance, patients who love to golf and want to see the ball as clearly as possible at long distances may choose a monofocal lens, set to correct as best the lens can, their distance vision. Since the monofocal lens can only correct one goal, this particular patient will need assistance in the near and intermediate-range, so they will likely be wearing reading glasses for near vision tasks.
Similarly, if a patient does a lot of needlework and wants to correct his/her vision the best they can in the near range, they will need to use glasses or some sort of correction for their distance vision.
Please keep in mind that these lenses can be chosen to correct whatever visual goal you prefer, but it’s never a guarantee that you’ll be correction-free at that distance. Even if the lens corrects your distance vision the best it can, it’s possible you’ll still need glasses or correction for your distance vision, depending on your desires and needs.