Refractive surgery

In a perfect optical system, a point source of light is focused onto a single point on the image plane; in the eye, light is focused on the retina. Optical aberrations are caused by imaging system imperfections which cause deviations in the transmission of light, preventing the convergence of light to a single point of focus. In recent years an increased understanding of higher-order wavefront aberrations has allowed improvements in both the measurement and treatment of refractive error. This chapter discusses refractive surgery. It details refractive error, aberrations, and presbyopia, along with preoperative evaluation for refractive surgery, laser refractive surgery, other corneal refractive procedures, refractive lens surgery, intraocular lenses, phakic intraocular lenses, and presbyopia correction.