Maximum permissible torsional misalignment in aberration-sensing and wavefront-guided corneal ablation.

Purpose: To determine the maximum permissible torsional misalignment in wavefront-guided refractive surgery.

Setting: University of Zurich, Department of Ophthalmology, Zurich, Switzerland.

Methods: The effect of torsionally misaligned ablations on the optical outcome was simulated using measured wavefront aberration patterns (2nd to 6th orders) in 130 normally aberrated eyes. The calculations were done for 3.0 mm, 5.0 mm, and 7.0 mm pupils. The optical quality of the simulated correction was rated by the root-mean-square residual wavefront error.

Results: The required accuracy of torsional alignment is higher for the correction of higher-order aberrations than for cylindrical treatments only. To improve the optical performance to the level of the best 10% of a normal, untreated population, ablation would have to occur within a tolerance range of 4.0 degrees for 7.0 mm pupils.

Conclusions: The tolerance range for torisional alignment in wavefront-guided higher-order corrections depends on the amount of original optical error in each eye. Rough centration based on the surgeon's judgment may not be accurate enough to achieve significantly improved optical quality in a high percentage of treated eyes.