Changes in higher order aberrations and contrast sensitivity after implantation of a phakic Artisan intraocular lens

Purpose: To evaluate higher-order aberrations (HOAs) and contrast sensitivity (CS), and investigate their relationship, after implantation of a phakic Artisan intraocular lens (IOL) for high myopia. Methods: A prospective study including 25 eyes of 15 patients with high myopia (greater than -8.00 D) who underwent phakic Artisan IOL implantation was carried out. Uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA), best corrected visual acuity, manifest refraction, and pupil diameter were measured at baseline and at 1 and 3 months postoperatively. HOAs were measured by Wavescan® (VISX Inc., Santa Clara, Calif., USA) from the 3.0 mm pupil entrance, and CS was measured using the VCTS® 6500 (Vistech consultants, Inc., Dayton, Ohio, USA) under photopic conditions. The area under the log contrast sensitivity function (AULCSF), defined as the integration of the fitted third order polynomial of the log CS units between the fixed limits of 0.18 (1.5 CPD) and 1.25 (18 CPD) on the log spatial frequency scale, was calculated. Results: UCVA LogMAR improved from 1.58 at baseline to 0.22 at 3 months, and spherical equivalent refraction was -0.77 ± 0.34 D at 3 months. The total HOAs had increased slightly at 1 month. CS had decreased significantly at all cycles per degree (p < 0.05) at 1 month, but returned to baseline values at 3 months. Postoperative AULCSF did not correlate with total HOAs under photopic conditions, but correlated with UCVA LogMAR at 1 month (p = 0.037). Conclusions: Phakic Artisan IOL implantation for the correction of high myopia resulted in a small increase of HOAs under photopic conditions. At 1 month, CS was decreased, but returned to baseline at 3 months under photopic conditions. Postoperative AULCSF did not correlate with total HOAs at 1 month.