Study of wavefront aberrations on the corneal anterior surface and related factors in patients after corneal refractive surgery

Abstract Background To investigate the characteristics and distribution of anterior and posterior surface wavefront aberrations in patients suitable for corneal refractive surgery. Methods Sixty myopic patients (120 eyes, 14-46 years old) who underwent corneal refractive surgery were randomly selected by the Pentacam anterior segment analysis system with a spherical equivalent (SE) of -1.50 to -12.00 D. The corneal anterior and posterior aberrations (higher-order aberration, HOA; spherical aberration, SA; Coma; Trefoil) and Q and K values were detected, and a correlation analysis of the relevant parameters was carried out. Results The root mean square (RMS) values from 3 to 6 (RMS 3 to 6) of the whole eye higher-order wave surface aberrations at a 6.0 mm pupil diameter showed a decreasing trend in patients with corneal refractive surgery, and an RMS value of 3 accounted for 62.92% of the total HOAs. The coma ratio increased with increasing diopter, while the spherical aberration ratio was not changed. In addition, the spherical aberration was 0.203 ± 0.082 μm (range: 0.061 to 0.503 μm), and the Q30 was -0.19 ± 0.03 (range: -0.58 to 0.31), which showed a normal distribution. There were significant differences in coma aberrations (3, 1) in the low, middle and high myopia groups (P=0.013). The spherical equivalent was positively correlated with corneal coma (R = -0.241, P = 0.009), and the Q value was positively correlated with total higher-order as well as spherical aberrations (R = 0.326, P <0.001; R = 0.675, P <0.001). Conclusions Individual wavefront aberrations on the anterior and posterior surfaces of the cornea are comparatively different, and the Zernike coefficients are related to the degree of myopia. Spherical aberrations are the most overriding aberrations of the cornea.