Wavefront aberrations in eyes with Acrysof monofocal intraocular lenses.

PURPOSE To characterize and measure the ocular aberrations in eyes implanted with monofocal intraocular lenses (IOLs) and to study any correlation between postoperative aberrations and surgical factors. METHODS A Tscherning aberroscope was used to measure the wavefront aberrations of 62 eyes that had undergone phacoemulsification with the implantation of foldable monofocal Acrysof MA60BM IOLs (Alcon Laboratories Inc, Ft Worth, Tex). The Zernike coefficients, measured with a pupil diameter of 6 mm, were compared with those of a normal dataset of 82 eyes of healthy young myopes. RESULTS Spherical aberration (Z(0)4) was the most predominant higher order aberration, with a mean value of 0.37 +/- 0.16 microm. A statistically significant linear relationship was noted between the magnitude of postoperative spherical aberration and the dioptric power of the IOL. The mean spherical aberration was 33 times more in the pseudophakic group than in normal young myopic eyes. The other major higher order aberrations were trefoil (Z(-3)3) with a mean of -0.13 +/- 0.22 microm and vertical coma (Z(-1)3) with a mean value of -0.11 +/- 0.23 microm. On average, the root-mean-square of higher order aberrations in pseudophakic eyes was 2.1 times that in a normal population of young myopic eyes. CONCLUSIONS Eyes that undergo cataract surgery with monofocal IOL implantation suffer from significant higher order aberrations. The optical design of the IOL is most likely responsible for the increase in spherical aberration, the magnitude of which is a function of the dioptric power of the IOL.