Reverse Geometry Rigid Gas Permeable Contact Lens Wear Reduces High-Order Aberrations and the Associated Symptoms in Post-LASIK Patients

Abstract

Purpose: This study evaluated the efficacy of custom-made reverse geometry rigid gas permeable (RGP) contact lenses in the control of symptoms related to increased wavefront aberrations after LASIK correction of myopia.

Materials and Methods: Twenty-eight myopes treated with LASIK were assessed for post-LASIK symptoms (declined night vision, glare, halos and/or monocular diplopia) and corneal topography. A set of RGP contact lenses was selected as trial lenses based on the matching between the lens and the patient’s corneal topography. If the fluorescein pattern between the trial lens and the corneal surface showed a central alignment, a mid-peripheral bearing and peripheral clearance and if the patient felt comfortable with the lens wear, a duplicated lens was ordered for the patient. Otherwise, a lens satisfied with corneal topography of the patient and clinical judgment was used. Visual acuity (VA) and wavefront aberrations were measured after the lens wear.

Results: The custom-made lenses well matched the host cornea with no dislodgment in all subjects. The post-LASIK eyes showed an increase of 1 Snellen line in VA (from 0.90 ± 0.33 to 1.11 ± 0.24) and a significant improvement in all symptoms after the lens wear. The total higher-order aberration is significantly reduced after the lens wear with at least 70% reduction in either spherical aberration, coma, third or fourth aberration but only 33% reduction in the fifth aberration.

Conclusions: Reverse geometry RGP lenses with the design based on individual topographic data can improve visual performance of post-LASIK eyes by reducing higher order aberrations.

KEYWORDS::

• High-order aberrations
• Refractive surgery
• Reverse geometry
• Rigid gas-permeable contact lens
• Visual quality

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30772389).

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.