title: Customized aspheric IOL design by raytracing through the eye containing quadric surfaces.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of the present study was to demonstrate a method of how to calculate intraocular lenses with a customized asphericity and how to apply this strategy to clinical examples in cases where biometric data of the cornea (front and back surface topography) as well as distances in the eye are known.
  
  
  METHODS
  (1) we demonstrated an algebraic method for tracing a bundle of rays through a schematic eye containing surfaces which can be represented by 2nd order surfaces (quadric surfaces), and (2) we introduced a strategy for customization of the lens' back surface for compensating the optical path length differences of the rays from object to image in terms of a wave front correction while predefining the lens front surface.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The presented method was applied to three working examples: example 1 referred to a centered optical system with a spherical cornea (front and back surfaces) and a predefined spherical lens front surface, example 2 referred to a centered optical system with aspherical surfaces for the corneal front and back surfaces and a predefined spherical lens front surface, and example 3 referrred to a non-centered system with a decentered aspherical cornea (front and back surface), and a predefined spherical lens front surface. The parameterized ray intersection points with the lens back surface were optimized in terms of equalizing the ray path lengths and a quadric surface was fitted to these ray intersection points to characterize the customized lens. The fitting error, ray spot diagram, and the optical path length of the rays are provided.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This simple calculation strategy may be the first step in developing individual aspherical lenses, which have the potential to fully compensate spherical aberrations based on individual measures of the eye.
authors: Experimental Ophthalmology, University of Saarland, Homburg, Germany. achim.langenbucher@uks.eu
authors: Achim
authors: A
authors: Langenbucher
authors: Timo
authors: T
authors: Eppig
authors: Berthold
authors: B
authors: Seitz
authors: Edgar
authors: E
authors: Janunts