Effect of even and odd-order aberrations on the accommodation response.

Aim: To investigate the potential effect that odd and even-order monochromatic aberrations may have on the accommodation response of the human eye.

Methods: Eight healthy subjects with astigmatism below 1 D, best corrected visual acuity 20/20 or better and normal findings in an ophthalmic examination were enrolled. An adaptive optics system was used in order to measure the accommodation response of the subjects' eyes under different conditions: with the natural aberrations being present, and with the odd and even-order aberrations being corrected. Three measurements of accommodation response were monocularly acquired at accommodation demands ranging from 0 to 4 D (0.5 D step).

Results: The accommodative lag was greater for the accommodative demands of 1.5, 3, 3.5 and 4 D for the condition in which the even-order aberrations were corrected, in comparison to that obtained for the natural aberrations and corrected odd-order aberrations for the same accommodation demands. No statistically significant differences were found between the accommodation responses under the three conditions.

Conclusion: The odd and even-order aberrations are not helping the visual system to accommodate, because their partial correction do not affect the accommodation performance.