Waterclefts significantly reduce visual acuity

Researchers conducted this study to compare visual acuity and ocular higher-order aberrations (HOAs) between eyes with waterclefts and normal eyes. The results suggest that increased HOAs cause reduced visual acuity in eyes with waterclefts. The authors compared the results of ophthalmic examinations and wavefront analysis between 30 eyes (30 subjects) with pure waterclefts and 194 control eyes (194 subjects) without lenticular opacity. Mean corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA) in the watercleft group was significantly lower than in the control group (p <0.01). There was a significant relationship between CDVA and HOA in both groups. Total HOA and trefoil and coma aberrations were statistically significantly higher in the watercleft group than in the control group (p <0.05).

This paper nicely confirms that those whirls of waterclefts are really visually debilitating, which is something we have known for years but is sometimes hard to document. Sometimes these patients have better Snellen acuity than function. The authors note that intraocular lens surgery may be beneficial in some patients with waterclefts only, especially elderly patients.