Correlation of higher order aberrations and components of astigmatism in myopic refractive surgery candidates.

Purpose: To evaluate the correlation between refractive, corneal, and residual astigmatism and higher order aberrations (HOA) in refractive surgery candidates.

Methods: Three hundred and seventy-five eyes of 188 patients aged 28.2 ± 6.24 years with a predominance of females (62.7%) were enrolled in this study. Refraction, topography (Orbscan IIz, Bausch & Lomb, Rochester, NY, USA), and aberrometry (Zywave, Bausch & Lomb, Rochester, NY, USA) were performed to determine refractive and corneal astigmatism and HOA for all participants. Ocular residual astigmatism was calculated using vector analysis.

Results: The mean spherical equivalent was -3.59 ± 1.95 D and the mean refractive astigmatism was -1.97 ± 1.3 D. The mean HOA was 0.38 ± 0.15 μm in all cases, which increased with spherical equivalent (p < 0.05). There was a positive significant correlation between both corneal and refractive astigmatism and HOA (p < 0.05), but there was no significant correlation between residual astigmatism and HOA (p = 0.122).

Conclusion: The results of the study showed significant correlations between corneal and refractive astigmatisms and HOA.