Effect of tear film break-up on higher-order aberrations measured with wavefront sensor.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate whether optical wavefront aberrations vary with tear film break-up.


METHODS
Observational case series.


METHODS
Higher-order aberrations were examined for 20 eyes of 20 normal subjects with a Hartmann-Shack wavefront sensor before and after tear film break-up.


RESULTS
Higher-order aberrations for photopic vision (central 4 mm diameter) after tear film break-up increased 1.44 fold compared to higher-order aberrations before tear film break-up (P =.001, paired t-test). Higher-order aberrations after tear film break-up for scotopic vision (central 6 mm diameter) were also 1.23 times higher than those before break-up (P =.005, paired t-test).


CONCLUSIONS
Wavefront sensing enabled us to evaluate the induced irregular astigmatism caused by tear film break-up quantitatively. Wavefront aberrations should be measured carefully to avoid the effects of tear film break-up, especially in wavefront-guided refractive surgery.
Koh
Shizuka
S
Department of Ophthalmology, Suita, Japan.
Maeda
Naoyuki
N
Kuroda
Teruhito
T
Hori
Yuichi
Y
Watanabe
Hitoshi
H
Fujikado
Takashi
T
Tano
Yasuo
Y
Hirohara
Yoko
Y
Mihashi
Toshifumi
T
D000328:Adult; D001251:Astigmatism / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003315:Cornea / Q000378:metabolism*; D003941:Diagnostic Techniques, Ophthalmological / Q000295:instrumentation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012029:Refraction, Ocular; D013666:Tears / Q000378:metabolism*