title: Serial measurements of higher-order aberrations after blinking in normal subjects.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate sequential changes in the optical quality of normal eyes associated with blinking.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ocular higher-order aberrations (HOAs) were measured sequentially by using a wavefront sensor for 30 seconds in 20 eyes of 20 normal subjects. During the measurement, subjects were forced to blink every 10 seconds. The obtained aberration data were analyzed in the central 4-mm diameter for coma-like, spherical-like, and total HOAs up to the sixth-order Zernike polynomials.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The serial changes in the HOAs with blinking were classified into four groups by pattern: stable (25%), small-fluctuation (45%), sawtooth (20%), and others (10%). In the subjects with the sawtooth pattern, the total HOAs increased significantly (P < 0.001, one-way repeated-measures ANOVA) with time between blinks. Increased total HOAs and coma-like aberrations in the subjects with the sawtooth pattern suggested that the inferosuperior asymmetric change in tear film thickness is responsible.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Dynamic changes in HOAs after blinking showed variations even in clinically normal subjects. Serial measurements of HOAs may be useful in evaluating the dynamic changes in tear film and the effects on the quality of vision after blinking.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Osaka University Medical School, Suita, Japan.
authors.forename: Shizuka
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Koh
authors.forename: Naoyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Maeda
authors.forename: Yoko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hirohara
authors.forename: Toshifumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mihashi
authors.forename: Sayuri
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ninomiya
authors.forename: Kenichiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bessho
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fujikado
authors.forename: Yasuo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tano
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001767:Blinking / Q000502:physiology*; D003315:Cornea / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012029:Refraction, Ocular / Q000502:physiology*; D013666:Tears / Q000378:metabolism*; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology*