Correlation between higher-order aberration and photophobia after cataract surgery

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Vision Science

Background:

• Cataract surgery alters retinal image quality, potentially affecting photophobia.
• Previous studies have not analyzed photophobia changes pre- and post-cataract surgery or its link to retinal spatial properties.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the alteration in photophobia before and after conventional cataract surgery.
• To analyze the association between higher-order aberrations (HOAs) and subjective photophobia scores.

Main Methods:

• Measured HOAs using Zernike decomposition for a 3-mm pupil diameter in 71 patients undergoing cataract surgery.
• Assessed subjective photophobia using a 0-10 scale.
• Analyzed correlations between photophobia scores and HOAs using Spearman's rank sum correlation.

Main Results:

• Photophobia scores increased, remained stable, or decreased in 3, 41, and 27 patients, respectively, post-surgery.
• In photophobia-concerned patients, significant correlations were found between photophobia scores and postoperative total HOAs, coma, and trefoil.
• No significant correlation between photophobia and preoperative HOAs was observed.

Conclusions:

• Postoperative HOAs, reflecting altered retinal image spatial properties, may influence the degree of photophobia.
• Preoperative HOAs did not correlate with photophobia, suggesting cataract scattering may be a more significant factor before surgery.