Higher-Order Aberrations in Transparent Crystalline Lens Japanese Eye

Abstract

Purpose: : Since aspheric intraocular lenses (IOL) became available, cataract surgery has become a useful intervention not only for recovering visual acuity and refractive correction but also for improving aberration and betterment of QOV or QOL. Since cornea, lens and pupil are influential factors on higher-order aberration, we investigated aging change of higher-order aberrations (HOA) of Japanese eyes.

Methods: : 319 right eyes of 319 volunteers (mean age 41.7, range 24-76 yrs; 290 males, 29 females) without ophthalmic abnormalities other than refractive error were examined. HOA were measured by a wavefront analyzer (KR9000PW, TOPCON) and corneal and ocular HOA (third and fourth order aberrations) with 4mm and 6mm diameter pupils were assessed as a function of age. Axial length was determined by IOL Master (Carl Zeiss) and its correlation with HOA was examined.

Results: : Corneal spherical aberration both in 4mm and 6mm diameter did not change with ageing. The mean score of 4mm diameter was +0.04475±0.01683µm, and that of 6mm ones was +0.2296±0.0778µm. Coma and trefoil aberrations of cornea, and ocular spherical, coma and trefoil aberrations increased with aging. Ocular spherical aberrations (6mm diameter) exceeded corneal spherical aberrations at age 56, and the longer the axial length, the more negative ocular spherical aberrations tended to be.

Conclusions: : Although there were not many cases reported, we found the average Japanese corneal aberration was lower than that of other ethnicities (+0.247~+0.287µm). For cataract surgery with aspherical IOL for QOV improvement, it is necessary to consider patients’ age, axial length and amount of negative spherical aberration for each IOL.

Keywords: cataract • imaging/image analysis: clinical • clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: natural history