Citation: Lau JK, Vincent SJ, Cheung S-W, Cho P. Higher-order aberrations and axial elongation in myopic children treated with orthokeratology. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2020;61(2):22. https://doi.org/10.1167/iovs. 61.2.22 PURPOSE. This retrospective longitudinal study aimed to examine the relationship between ocular higher-order aberrations (HOA) and axial eye growth in young myopic children undergoing orthokeratology (ortho-k) treatment. METHODS.Axial length and ocular HOA, measured under cycloplegia annually over a 2year period from the right eyes of myopic children, who previously completed ortho-k clinical trials, were retrieved. Linear mixed model analyses were applied to determine the association between ocular HOA, other known confounding variables (age, sex, and refractive error), and axial eye growth. RESULTS.Data from 103 subjects were analyzed. The root-mean square (RMS) values of total ocular HOA (third to sixth orders combined), spherical (Z 0 4 and Z 0 6 combined), and comatic (Z −1 3 , Z 1 3 , Z −1 5 , and Z 1 5 combined) aberrations increased by approximately 3, 9, and 2 times, respectively, after 2 years of ortho-k treatment. After adjusting for age, sex, and refractive error, higher RMS values of total HOA and spherical aberrations were associated with both longer axial length and slower axial elongation (all P < 0.01). For individual Zernike term coefficients, a higher level of positive spherical aberration (Z 0 4 ) was also associated with longer axial length and slower axial elongation (both P < 0.01), after adjusting for baseline HOA. CONCLUSIONS.Ortho-k for myopia control significantly increases the Zernike coefficients and therefore the RMS values for a range of total ocular HOA terms or metrics in children. These findings suggest the potential role of HOA, particularly spherical aberration, as the possible mechanism of slowing axial elongation in ortho-k treatment.

This retrospective longitudinal analysis aimed to investigate the association between ocular higher-order aberrations (HOAs) and axial eye growth in Hong Kong children. Measures of axial length and ocular HOAs under cycloplegia were obtained annually over a two-year period from 137 subjects aged 8.8 ± 1.4 years with mean spherical equivalent refraction of −2.04 ± 2.38 D. A significant negative association was observed between the RMS of total HOAs and axial eye growth (P = 0.03), after adjusting for other significant predictors of axial length including age, sex and refractive error. Similar negative associations with axial elongation were found for the RMS of spherical aberrations ( and combined) (P = 0.037). Another linear mixed model also showed that greater levels of vertical trefoil , primary spherical aberration and negative oblique trefoil were associated with slower axial elongation and longer axial length (all P < 0.05). These findings support the potential role of HOAs, image quality and a vision-dependent mechanism in childhood eye growth.

changes in axial length and choroidal thickness in children during and following orthokeratology treatment with different compression factors.

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Background To investigate the influence of compression factor upon changes in ocular higher‐order aberrations (HOAs) in young myopic children undergoing orthokeratology treatment. Methods Subjects aged between six and < 11 years, with low myopia (0.50–4.00 D inclusive), low astigmatism (≤ 1.25 D), and anisometropia (≤ 1.00 D), were randomly assigned to wear orthokeratology lenses of different compression factors in each eye (one eye 0.75 D and the fellow eye 1.75 D). HOAs were measured weekly over one month of lens wear. Wavefront analysis was conducted over a 5‐mm pupil using a sixth order Zernike polynomial expansion. Linear mixed models were used to examine the individual Zernike co‐efficients and specific root‐mean‐square (RMS) error (spherical, comatic, total HOAs) metrics and their changes between the two eyes during the study period. Results Twenty‐eight myopic (mean manifest spherical equivalent refraction: −2.10 ± 0.58 D) children (median [range] age: 9.3 [7.8–11.0] years) were analysed. Significant interocular differences in HOAs at baseline were observed for Z6−6 and Z6−4 only (both p < 0.05). During the lens wear period, eyes fitted with the increased compression factor showed greater changes in primary spherical aberration (Z40, p = 0.04) and RMS values for spherical and total HOAs (both p < 0.01). Considering data from both eyes together, after adjusting for the paired nature of the data, some other Zernike terms (Z31 and Z60, both p < 0.01) and the RMS value of comatic aberrations (p < 0.001) significantly increased after one month of orthokeratology treatment. The increase in primary spherical aberration (Z40) was positively correlated with the reduction in spherical equivalent refractive error, but only in eyes fitted with the increased compression factor (r = 0.69, p < 0.001). Conclusions Increasing the orthokeratology compression factor by 1.00 D significantly altered some HOAs, particularly spherical aberration. Given the association between positive spherical aberration and eye growth in children, further research investigating the influence of orthokeratology compression factor on axial eye growth is warranted.