Changes in spherical aberration after lens refilling with a silicone oil

PURPOSE. It may be possible to restore accommodation to presbyopic human eyes by refilling the lens capsular bag with a soft polymer. In the present study, optical changes were measured that occurred in a pig eye model after the refilling of the capsular bag. METHODS. The optical power and spherical aberration in 10 isolated pig lenses were measured under different conditions. They were first determined by using a scanning laser raytracing technique over an effective pupil size of 6 mm. Second, the contours of the anterior and posterior lens surface were photographed, and a mathematical ray-tracing was performed by using a polynomial fit through the digitized surface contours, to determine optical power and spherical aberration. Third. the lenses were refilled with a silicone oil until their preoperative lens thickness was reached, and scanning laser ray-tracing, contour photography, and mathematical ray-tracing were repeated. Comparisons between the measurements were made to determine how the change from a gradient refractive index to a homogeneous refractive index influenced spherical aberration. The influence of the change in lens contour on spherical aberration after lens refilling was also studied. RESULTS. The natural lenses had a higher lens power than the refilled lenses (49.9 +/- 1.5 D vs. 36.8 +/- 1.5 D; P <0.001). Moreover, there was a change in sign from negative spherical aberration before lens refilling (-3.6 D) to positive spherical aberration after lens refilling (7.9 D; P <0.001). The comparison between scanning laser ray-tracing of the natural lens and mathematical ray-tracing of the photographed surface contours of the natural lens to determine the effect of refractive index substitution (i.e., replacement of a gradient refractive index by a homogeneous refractive index) showed a significant change in spherical aberration from -3.6 +/- 2.0 to 11.0 +/- 2.1 D (P