PurposeTo clinically validate an adaptive optics visual simulator (VAO) that measures subjective refraction and visual acuity.SettingOptics Laboratory, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain.DesignProspective case series.MethodsUsing the adaptive optics visual simulator, 2 examiners measured the subjective refraction and visual acuity in healthy eyes of volunteers; 1 examiner also used a trial frame as a gold standard. The interexaminer reproducibility and agreement with the gold standard were estimated using the following statistical parameters: limits of agreement from Bland-Altman analysis, significance between differences (P value), and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC).ResultsSeventy-six eyes of 38 volunteers were measured. Interexaminer reproducibility for subjective refraction was excellent (ICC ≥0.96; P > .05), with low 95% confidence interval (CI) values for the power vectors M (spherical equivalent of the given refractive error), J0 (Jackson cross-cylinder, axes at 180 degrees and 90 degrees), and J45 (Jackson cross-cylinder, axes at 45 degrees and 135 degrees) (±0.51 diopter [D], ±0.14 D, and ±0.14 D, respectively). No significant differences in subjective refraction and visual acuity were found between the visual simulator and gold standard (P > .05), with 95% CIs for M, J0, and J45 (subjective refraction) of ±0.67 D, ±0.14 D, and ±0.16 D, respectively, and a ±0.10 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (visual acuity).ConclusionSubjective refraction results using the adaptive optics visual simulator agreed with those of the gold standard and can be used as the baseline for visual simulation of any optical corneal profile or intraocular lens design for refractive surgery patients.

Presbyopia, the loss of the eye’s accommodation capability, affects all humans aged above 45–50 years old. The two main reasons for this to happen are a hardening of the crystalline lens and a reduction of the ciliary muscle functionality with age. While there seems to be at least some partial accommodating functionality of the ciliary muscle at early presbyopic ages, it is not yet clear whether the muscle is still active at more advanced ages. Previous techniques used to visualize the accommodation mechanism of the ciliary muscle are complicated to apply in the older subjects, as they typically require fixation stability during long measurement times and/or to have an ultrasound probe directly in contact with the eye. Instead, we used our own developed method based on high-speed recording of lens wobbling to study the ciliary muscle activity in a small group of pseudophakic subjects (around 80 years old). There was a significant activity of the muscle, clearly able to contract under binocular stimulation of accommodation. This supports a purely lenticular-based theory of presbyopia and it might stimulate the search for new solutions to presbyopia by making use of the remaining contraction force still presented in the aging eye.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the use of the VAO adaptive optics visual simulator (Voptica SL, Murcia, Spain) for customization of spherical aberration to increase depth of focus. METHODS: Through-focus visual acuity with both high- and low-contrast letters from +1.00 to −3.00 diopters (D) was measured in 17 dilated eyes with three different induced amounts of spherical aberration for a 4.5-mm pupil diameter: control (0 µm), −0.15 µm, and −0.30 µm. RESULTS: The defocus curves followed the same behavior with both values of contrast, but the visual acuity was 0.2 logMAR lower with low contrast. The mean values of high-contrast logMAR visual acuity at far, intermediate (67 cm), and near (40 cm) were −0.10, 0.11, and 0.37 for control, 0.04, 0.00, and 0.15 for −0.15 µm, and 0.23, 0.00, and 0.06 for −0.30 µm conditions. The 95% confidence interval ranged from ±0.14 to ±0.45 logMAR and the middle 50% of the distribution was approximately 0.2 logMAR. CONCLUSIONS: Negative values of spherical aberration extend the depth of focus in different ways depending on each patient. The VAO is a new instrument that allows the visual customization of spherical aberration to enhance depth of focus. [ J Refract Surg . 2020;36(4):223–229.]

Citation: Benito A, Hervella L, Tabernero J, et al. Environmental and genetic factors explain differences in intraocular scattering. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2016;57:163-168. DOI:10.1167/iovs.15-17897 PURPOSE. To study the relative impact of genetic and environmental factors on the variability of intraocular scattering within a classical twin study. METHODS.A total of 64 twin pairs, 32 monozygotic (MZ) (mean age: 54.9 6 6.3 years) and 32 dizygotic (DZ) (mean age: 56.4 6 7.0 years), were measured after a complete ophthalmologic exam had been performed to exclude all ocular pathologies that increase intraocular scatter as cataracts. Intraocular scattering was evaluated by using two different techniques based on a straylight parameter log(S) estimation: a compact optical instrument based in the principle of optical integration and a psychophysical measurement. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were used as descriptive statistics of twin resemblance, and genetic models were fitted to estimate heritability. RESULTS.No statistically significant difference was found for MZ and DZ groups for age (P ¼ 0.203), best-corrected visual acuity (P ¼ 0.626), cataract gradation (P ¼ 0.701), sex (P ¼ 0.941), optical log(S) (P ¼ 0.386), or psychophysical log(S) (P ¼ 0.568), with only a minor difference in equivalent sphere (P ¼ 0.008). Intraclass correlation coefficients between siblings were similar for scatter parameters: 0.676 in MZ and 0.471 in DZ twins for optical log(S); 0.533 in MZ twins and 0.475 in DZ twins for psychophysical log(S). For equivalent sphere, ICCs were 0.767 in MZ and 0.228 in DZ twins. Conservative estimates of heritability for the measured scattering parameters were 0.39 and 0.20, respectively. CONCLUSIONS.Correlations of intraocular scatter (straylight) parameters in the groups of identical and nonidentical twins were similar. Heritability estimates were of limited magnitude, suggesting that genetic and environmental factors determine the variance of ocular straylight in healthy middle-aged adults.

A new compact optical instrument suitable for clinical measurements of straylight in the human eye has been developed. Optically measured straylight values were highly correlated to those that were obtained psychophysically. Optical measurement of straylight can be used for the objective classification of cataract opacities based on their optical impact. [J Refract Surg. 2016;32(12):846-850.].