Aberration-correcting IOLs may be most suitable for patients with previous myopic LASIK

This experimental study found that aberration-correcting aspheric IOLs provide better optical quality in patients with previous myopic laser ablation than aberration-free aspheric IOLs or conventional spherical IOLs.

The authors used an adaptive optics visual system to simulate the aberration profiles of three different IOL designs aberration-free aspheric (Akreos Adapt AO), aberration-correcting aspheric (Acrysof IQ SN60WF) and conventional spherical (Triplato) in 10 patients (10 eyes) with simulated low or high myopic laser corneal ablations. Each simulated IOL design was tried under five situations: centered, 0.2 mm and 0.4 mm decentered, and 2 and 4 degrees tilted.

The optical quality was better with the aberration-correcting IOL than with the other two simulated designs, as shown by the point-spread function and modulation transfer function results. When the IOLs were centered, the aberration-correcting IOL provided the best visual quality results in both the high and low myopia groups. When the IOLs were misaligned, there was a decrease of visual quality with all simulated IOLs except the aberration-free IOL in the high myopia group.

The authors conclude that these results suggest that aberration-correcting IOLs should be implanted in patients with previous myopic LASIK. However, the decrease in visual quality when these IOLs are decentered or tilted shows the importance of accurate implantation.

They also note that there are several available aberration-correcting IOLs with different negative values of spherical aberration on the market and the results could be different from those obtained in this study with the Acrysof IQ SN60WF IOL.