An evaluation of the Cavitron Autorefractor 7 with contact lenses and non contact lens wearing patients.

The Autorefractor 7 is a microcomputor assisted electro-mechanical optical system recently introduced to the professions for the subjective measurement of refractive error, phorias, and accommodative capacity. In this study of 450 eyes, 150 were wearing hard contact lenses, 150 wearing soft lenses, and 150 habitually wore a spectacle correction. Comparisons involved only the subjective refractive feature of the instrument and indicated no predictable difference in the three groups. Comparison of the Autorefractor 7 and clinical subjective refraction with the phoropter, however, showed that the instrument is reliable in the majority of cases but has a tendency to overcorrect myopia and astigmatism.