Abstract
Purpose: To investigate the effect of laser spot size on the outcome of aberration correction with scanning laser corneal ablation. Methods: Numerical simulation of ablation outcome. Results: Correction of aberrations of Zernike modes from second to 8th order were simulated. Gaussian and top-hat beams of 0.6 to 2.0 mm full-width-half-maximum diameters were modeled. The fractional correction and secondary aberration (distortion) were evaluated. Using a distortion/correction ratio of less than 0.5 as a cutoff for adequate performance, we found that a 2 mm or smaller beam is adequate for spherocylindrical correction (Zernike second order), a 1 mm or smaller beam is adequate for correction of up to 4th order Zernike modes, and a 0.6 mm or smaller beam is adequate for correction of up to 6th order Zernike modes. Conclusions: Since ocular aberrations above Zernike 4th order are relatively insignificant, current scanning lasers with a beam diameter of 1 mm or less are theoretically capable of eliminating most of the higher order aberrations of the eye.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 66-77 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering |
Volume | 4245 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2001 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Customized corneal ablation
- LASIK
- Laser vision correction
- Optical aberration
- PRK
- Supernormal vision
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Computer Science Applications
- Applied Mathematics
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering