ocular higher-order aberrations and mesopic pupil size in individuals screened for refractive surgery

purpose: to study the distribution of ocular higher-order aberrations (hoas) and mesopic pupil size in individuals screened for refractive surgery. methods: ocular hoas and mesopic pupil size were studied in 2458 eyes of 1240 patients with myopia, simple myopic astigmatism and compound myopic astigmatism and 215 eyes of 110 patients with hyperopia, simple hyperopic astigmatism and compound hyperopic astigmatism using the zywave aberrometer (busch& lomb). all patients had correctable refractive errors without a history of refractive surgery or underlying diseases. root-mean-square values of hoas, total spherical aberration, and total coma aberration and mesopic pupil size were analyzed. ocular hoas were measured across a ≥ 6.0 mm pupil. results: mean values of hoas, total spherical aberration and total coma aberration in the myopic group were 0.369±0.233 µm, 0.133±0.112 µm and 0.330±0.188 µm, respectively. the corresponding values in the hyperopic group were 0.418±0.214 µm, 0.202±0.209 µm and 0.343±0.201 µm, respectively. the hyperopes showed greater total hoas (p<0.01) and total spherical aberration (p<0.01) as compared to the myopes. in age-matched analysis, only the amount of total spherical aberration was higher in the hyperopic group (p=0.05). mesopic pupil size was significantly larger in the myopic group than in the hyperopic group (p=0.05). conclusion: significant levels of hoas were found in both groups which are important for planning refractive surgeries. there were significantly higher levels of total spherical aberration in hyperopes compared to myopes. mesopic pupil size was larger in the latter group.