Longitudinal chromatic aberration as a function of refractive error

Abstract

The refractive error‐dependence of longitudinal chromatic aberration was investigated, our hypothesis being that myopia may be the outcome of inadequate cues to defocus. Myopia, hyperopia and emmetropia were approximately equally represented in the group of 34 young subjects studied. Chromatic aberration was measured using a Badal optometer system incorporating a monochromator. The mean chromatic aberration for the group of 1.96 D (400–650 nm) compared favourably with values reported in other studies. Although there was a significant spread in the data which ranged from 1.56 D to 2.30 D across the group, these variations were not refractive error‐dependent.(Clin Exp Optom 1993; 76.4: 119–122)

Key words:

• chromatic aberration
• myopia
• refractive error