Photographic simulation of off-axis blurring due to chromatic aberration in spectacle lenses.
Spectacle lens materials of high refractive index (nd) tend to have high chromatic dispersion (low Abbé number [V]), which may contribute to visual blurring with oblique viewing. A patient who noted off-axis blurring with new high-refractive-index spectacle lenses prompted us to do a photographic simulation of the off-axis aberrations in 3 readily available spectacle lens materials, CR-39 (nd = 1.50), polyurethane (nd = 1.60), and polycarbonate (nd = 1.59). Both chromatic and monochromatic aberrations were found to cause off-axis image degradation. Chromatic aberration was more prominent in the higher-index materials (especially polycarbonate), whereas the lower-index CR-39 had more astigmatism of oblique incidence. It is important to consider off-axis aberrations when a patient complains of otherwise unexplained blurred vision with a new pair of spectacle lenses, especially given the increasing promotion of high-refractive-index materials with high chromatic dispersion.
The Wilmer Eye Institute, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland.
Pavle
P
Doroslovački
The Wilmer Eye Institute, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland. Electronic address: dguyton@jhmi.edu.
David L
DL
Guyton
D005139:Eyeglasses / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009216:Myopia / Q000628:therapy; D055095:Optics and Photonics; D010781:Photography / Q000379:methods*; D011475:Prosthesis Failure; D012031:Refractometry; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology