Comparison of wavefront aberration after cataract surgery with acrylic intraocular lens implantation

Purpose: To compare aberration changes in pseudophakic eyes with 3 types of acrylic intraocular lenses (IOLs) and in normal phakic eyes. Setting: Department of Ophthalmology, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea. Methods: This single-center prospective study comprised 51 cataract patients who had cataract surgery and 12 phakic eyes. Fourteen eyes received an AcrySof MA60BM (Alcon), 18 eyes received a Sensar AR40 (AMO), and 19 eyes, a Corneal ACR6D (Corneal Laboratoire). One month after cataract surgery, aberrations in the eyes were measured using a Hartmann-Shack-type aberrometer. The same measurements were done in the 12 age-matched normal phakic eyes. Individual Zernike polynomials and the root-mean-square (RMS) 3rd- and 4th-order aberrations in the 2 groups were compared. The total RMS value was also compared. Results: The RMS value of the 3rd- and 4th-order aberrations did not differ significantly between groups, nor did the total RMS value. In all IOL groups, an individual Zernike coefficient (C₃³, triangular astigmatism with base on the y-axis) was significantly different than that in the normal phakic group. Conclusion: There was no statistically significant difference in overall higher-order aberrations between normal eyes and eyes implanted with 3 types of acrylic IOLs.