Aberration controll with contact lenses

Abstract

Abstract Purpose: To investigate and compare the reduction in ocular aberrations with standard hydrogel contact lenses (i.e., lenses not designed to control aberrations) and with aberration controlled hydrogel and silicon‐hydrogel contact lenses. Methods: The aberrations with and without contact lenses were measured in 42 subjects between 20 and 37 years of age using a Zywave wave front sensor (B&L). 22 subjects were fitted a standard contact lens and an aberration controlled hydrogel lens. The remaining 20 subjects were fitted aberration controlled silicon‐hydrogel lenses Results: With the standard lens the aberrations were controlled (i.e., close to zero) with a 4.0 mm pupil. Whereas, with both the aberration control lenses the residual spherical aberrations became negative. The reduction in aberrations differed significantly (p<0.05) between all lenses. Conclusions: Since aberration controlled contact lenses in many subjects overcorrect the spherical aberrations when the pupil size is normal (~4.0 mm) we suggest measuring wave front aberrations in each patient both with and without contact lenses in order to achieve the desired effect.