Abstract
On-axis monochromatic higher-order aberrations increase with age. Few studies have been made of peripheral refraction along the horizontal meridian of older eyes, and none of their off-axis higher-order aberrations. We measured wave aberrations over the central 42 degrees x32 degrees visual field for a 5mm pupil in 10 young and 7 older emmetropes. Patterns of peripheral refraction were similar in the two groups. Coma increased linearly with field angle at a significantly higher rate in older than in young emmetropes (-0.018+/-0.007 versus -0.006+/-0.002 microm/deg). Spherical aberrationC40was almost constant over the measured field in both age groups and mean values across the field were significantly higher in older than in young emmetropes (+0.08+/-0.05 versus +0.02+/-0.04 microm). Total root-mean-square and higher-order aberrations increased more rapidly with field angle in the older emmetropes. However, the limits to monochromatic peripheral retinal image quality are largely determined by the second-order aberrations, which do not change markedly with age, and under normal conditions the relative importance of the increased higher-order aberrations in older eyes is lessened by the reduction in pupil diameter with age. Therefore it is unlikely that peripheral visual performance deficits observed in normal older individuals are primarily attributable to the increased impact of higher-order aberration.
Highlights
It is well known that axial visual performance as assessed, for example, by contrast sensitivity [1,2,3], visual acuity [4] or other criteria [5] declines with age
While a number of neural factors may contribute to the reduced ability of older individuals to perform tasks involving peripheral vision (e.g. [24,25,26,27,28]), it is reasonable to postulate that the quality of the image on the peripheral retina might have a significant influence
In many real-world visual tasks, peripheral image quality is likely to be of some importance; it is possible that aberrations other than defocus may be of significance here
Summary
It is well known that axial visual performance as assessed, for example, by contrast sensitivity [1,2,3], visual acuity [4] or other criteria [5] declines with age. There is no doubt that optical factors, including increases in both monochromatic aberration [6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15] and intraocular light scattering [7, 16, 17] play important roles in this decline, neural factors are involved [18]. Less widely studied has been the influence of age on visual and optical performance in the peripheral visual field. This is unfortunate, since many visual tasks, including safe locomotion and driving, depend on efficient peripheral vision. In many real-world visual tasks, peripheral image quality is likely to be of some importance; it is possible that aberrations other than defocus may be of significance here
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