Predicting Patients’ Night Vision Complaints With Wavefront Technology

Purpose

To evaluate the accuracy of the diagnostic capabilities of optical metrics generated from wavefront measurements in relationship to post–laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) visual complaints as expressed and drawn by patients.

Design

Retrospective analysis and observational case series.

Methods

Patient wavefront data from an investigational device exemption study for wavefront-guided ablations were used to derive normative modulation transfer function (MTF), encircled energy (EE), and Strehl ratio. These optical metrics and their point-spread functions (PSF) were compared with data from five postoperative patients with night vision complaints. Patients were asked to draw their symptoms, which were elicited by testing with a Fenthoff muscle light, while using their best-corrected distance vision.

Results

The MTF, EE, and Strehl ratio of most patients were markedly different from those of the averages of 208 normal myopic eyes before and after LASIK surgery. The spatial extent of the PSF correlated positively with the severity of the visual complaints. Wavefront-derived PSFs were markedly similar to the patients’ drawings.

Conclusions

The results of this study demonstrate the diagnostic capability of the wavefront system in predicting visual symptoms and complaints of patients with high-order aberrations. Objective visual metrics from patients with night vision complaints were different from those of normal myopic eyes that had undergone LASIK procedures.