PURPOSE

To investigate the relationship between accommodation and the optical aberrations of the whole human eye, as a function of age.

METHODS

Sixty healthy subjects with spherical ametropia in the range +/-3 D, astigmatism less than 1 D, corrected visual acuity of 20/18 or better, and normal findings in an ophthalmic examination were enrolled. Subjects were divided into four groups, with age ranges of 19 to 29, 30 to 39, 40 to 49, and 50 to 60 years. Monochromatic optical aberrations and pupil size were measured with a Hartmann-Shack wavefront sensor under monocular viewing conditions, without pharmacological dilation or cycloplegia. Stimulus vergences were in the range of 0 to 5 D, with an increment of 0.5 D. The change in aberration during accommodation for different groups and different pupil conditions (natural and fixed 4-mm pupil) was compared.

RESULTS

Fourth-order spherical aberration (SA) became more negative with accommodation, and the rate of this change was greater in older individuals. For natural pupil conditions, there were no significant differences between age groups in the changes of the higher-order aberrations, coma, and trefoil with accommodation. However, for a 4-mm pupil, the youngest and oldest group showed significant differences in higher order RMS (root mean square) and spherical aberration compared with the other groups. High-order RMS showed a lower increase during accommodation when the pupil accommodative miosis was taken into account (natural pupil condition) than when a fixed 4-mm pupil was used.

CONCLUSIONS

Aberrations change with accommodation and with age. SA changes more with accommodation do than other higher-order aberrations. SA becomes more negative with accommodation, and this change is larger in older individuals. Accommodative miosis is useful for ameliorating the increase in higher-order aberrations with accommodation.