Study confirms that aspheric IOLs reduce spherical aberration and improve contract sensitivity

This study demonstrates, as has been shown before, that aspheric IOLs deliver reduced spherical aberration and improved contrast sensitivity compared with spherical lenses.

In the current study, 25 patients were implanted with the Tecnis Z9001 (Advanced Medical Optics, Inc., Santa Ana, Calif.) in one eye and the ClariFlex IOL (Advanced Medical Optics) in the other eye. The Tecnis Z9001 has an anterior aspheric surface designed to decrease the amount of ocular spherical aberration seen after cataract surgery, while the ClariFlex IOL is spheric. Eyes were evaluated with Hartmann-Shack aberrometry and CSV-1000HGT (VectorVision, Greenville, Ohio) contrast sensitivity instrumentation after one month and three months.

Less higher-order aberration was seen with the Tecnis Z9001 compared with the ClariFlex IOL at 5-mm and 6-mm pupil diameters. Contrast sensitivity was statistically better with the Tecnis IOL compared with the ClariFlex under photopic conditions at three spatial frequencies and under mesopic conditions at all spatial frequencies.

Financial Disclosures
Dr. Hoffman has no financial interests to disclose.

American Journal of Ophthalmology, May 2008