Clinical trial with commercial aspheric aphakic lenses.

A clinical trial with 11 subjects was conducted to compare the Armorlite Multiple Drop, the Signet Hyperaspheric, the Sola Hi-Drop, and the American Optical Fulvue types of aspheric aphakic lenses. Reasonable off-axis visual acuities were obtained with the Signet, Sola, and Fulvue types, but poor visual acuities were found with the Armorlite type. Similar visual field limits were found with the armorlite, Signet, and Sola types. Considerably larger limits were found with the Fulvue type than with the other types. However, subjects failed to appreciate these larger limits; this was attributed to the extremely poor image quality near the edge of the visual field with this lens type. Some subjects disliked the poor off-axis image quality with the Armorlite lens type, and it had poor acceptance relative to the other types. Concerning subjective perception of weight, cosmetic appearance, and visual field size, and subjective evaluation of performance of everyday activities, there were no significant differences between lens types. It was concluded that reducing lens off-axis power errors, corresponding to the rotating eye, should remain the most important principle of aphakic spectacle lens design.