Wavefront analysis of acrylic spherical and aspherical intraocular lenses

PURPOSE: To compare higher order wavefront aberrations in eyes implanted with acrylic aspherical intraocular lenses (IOLs) with a modified prolate anterior surface with conventional acrylic spherical IOLs by using the optical path difference method. METHODS: In a nonrandomized parallel cohort investigation, 36 eyes of 31 patients implanted with aspherical IOLs (Tecnis ZA9003) and 37 eyes of 23 age-matched patients implanted with spherical IOLs (SENSOR AR40e) were evaluated with a wavefront analyzer (OPD-Scan II) preoperatively and 1 month after surgery. The higher order aberrations for a 4.0-mm pupil diameter were expanded into Zernike's polynomial expression. Coma aberration, spherical aberration, and total higher order aberrations were evaluated as root mean square values. RESULTS: Postoperatively, coma and total higher order aberrations of spherical and aspherical IOLs significantly improved in both eyes. Spherical aberration improved in eyes with aspherical IOLs only (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: After implantation of acrylic aspherical IOLs, postoperative higher order aberrations were not necessarily lower than after implantation of acrylic spherical IOLs, but compared with levels following implantation of acrylic spherical IOLs, a significant reduction in spherical aberration was achieved.