Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 3, 2026
Correction of Presbyopia by Monocular Bi-Aspheric Ablation Profile
Published on: September 20, 2024
Relationship between preoperative aberrations and postoperative refractive error in enhancement of previous laser in
Roger F Steinert1, Nicoletta Fynn-Thompson
1Department of Ophthalmology, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-4375, USA. steinert@uci.edu <steinert@uci.edu>
Purpose:
To identify factors leading to inaccuracy of spherical correction in wavefront-guided enhancement treatments.
Setting:
Department of Ophthalmology, University of California, Irvine, California, USA.
Methods:
This retrospective outcomes analysis comprised 23 eyes (20 patients) having wavefront-guided flap-lift (19 eyes) or photorefractive keratectomy (4 eyes) enhancements after conventional non-wavefront-guided laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) for correction of residual myopia with a minimum follow-up of 1 month. Main outcomes measures were changes in lower-order aberrations and higher-order aberrations (HOAs) related to predictability of the refractive outcome.
Results:
The enhancement procedures reduced HOAs. Because of a hyperopic shift, however, uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA) improved 2 or more Snellen lines in 3 of 9 eyes (33.3%) treated without a surgeon offset compared with 9 of 14 (64.3%) when a surgeon offset was incorporated into the treatment plan. The quantitative amount of preoperative HOAs correlated with the amount of hyperopic shift, particularly strongly for spherical aberration (r(2) = 0.446, P = .0005). The amount of hyperopic shift was related in a linear manner to the amount of HOAs (for spherical aberrations, Y = 1.31X - 0.30, where Y is the postoperative manifest refraction spherical equivalent and X is the wavefront error in microns root mean square).
Conclusions:
Wavefront-guided enhancements can reduce levels of HOAs. Although UCVA improved in many patients, some with high levels of preenhancement spherical aberration had worse UCVA. Adjusting the nomogram for the amount of preenhancement HOAs may improve the accuracy of the lower-order correction in wavefront-guided enhancements.
