Standards for Reporting the Optical Aberrations of Eyes
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Standards for Reporting the Optical Aberrations of Eyes Larry N. Thibos, PhD; Raymond A. Applegate, OD, PhD; James T. Schwiegerling, PhD; Robert Webb, PhD; VSIA Standards Taskforce Members ABSTRACT tional standards for reporting aberration data and In response to a perceived need in the vision to specify test procedures for evaluating the accura- community, an OSA taskforce was formed at the cy of data collection and data analysis methods. 1999 topical meeting on vision science and its appli- 1 cations (VSIA-99) and charged with developing con- Following a call for participation , approximately sensus recommendations on definitions, conven- 20 people met at VSIA-99 to discuss the proposal to tions, and standards for reporting of optical aber- form a taskforce that would recommend standards rations of human eyes. Progress reports were pre- for reporting optical aberrations of eyes. The group sented at the 1999 OSA annual meeting and at VSIA- agreed to form three working parties that would 2000 by the chairs of three taskforce subcommittees on (1) reference axes, (2) describing functions, and take responsibility for developing consensus recom- (3) model eyes. [J Refract Surg 2002;18:S652-S660] mendations on definitions, conventions and stan- dards for the following three topics: (1) reference axes, (2) describing functions, and (3) model eyes. It he recent resurgence of activity in visual was decided that the strategy for Phase I of this pro- optics research and related clinical disciplines ject would be to concentrate on articulating defini- T(eg, refractive surgery, ophthalmic lens tions, conventions, and standards for those issues design, ametropia diagnosis) demands that the which are not empirical in nature. For example, sev- vision community establish common metrics, termi- eral schemes for enumerating the Zernike polyno- nology, and other reporting standards for the speci- mials have been proposed in the literature. fication of optical imperfections of eyes. Currently Selecting one to be the standard is a matter of there exists a plethora of methods for analyzing and choice, not empirical investigation, and therefore representing the aberration structure of the eye but was included in the charge to the taskforce. On the no agreement exists within the vision community on other hand, issues such as the maximum number of a common, universal method for reporting results. Zernike orders needed to describe ocular aberra- In theory, the various methods currently in use by tions adequately is an empirical question which was different groups of investigators all describe the avoided for the present, although the taskforce may same underlying phenomena and therefore it should choose to formulate recommendations on such be possible to reliably convert results from one rep- issues at a later time. Phase I concluded at the resentational scheme to another. However, the prac- VSIA-2000 meeting. tical implementation of these conversion methods is computationally challenging, is subject to error, and REFERENCE AXIS SELECTION reliable computer software is not widely available. All of these problems suggest the need for opera- Summary It is the committee’s recommendation that the ophthalmic community use the line-of-sight as the From the School of Optometry, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN reference axis for the purposes of calculating and (Thibos); College of Optometry, University of Houston, TX (Applegate); measuring the optical aberrations of the eye. The Department of Ophthalmology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ rationale is that the line-of-sight in the normal eye (Schweigerling); Schepens Research Institute, Boston, MA (Webb). This is an expanded version of a report originally published as: Thibos is the path of the chief ray from the fixation point to LN, Applegate RA, Schwiegerling JT, Webb R. Standards for Reporting the the retinal fovea. Therefore, aberrations measured Optical Aberrations of Eyes. In: Lakshminarayanan V, ed (Optical Society with respect to this axis will have the pupil center of America, Washington, D.C., 2000). Vision Science and Its Applications. TOPS-35:232-244. as the origin of a Cartesian reference frame. S652 Journal of Refractive Surgery Volume 18 September/October 2002 Standards for Reporting Optical Aberrations of Eyes/Thibos et al Figure 1. The cornea, pupil, and crystalline lens are decentered and tilted with respect to each other, rendering the eye a decentered optical system that is different between individuals and eyes within the same individual. Figure 2. An anatomical view of the macular region as viewed from the front and in cross section (below). a: foveola, b: fovea, Secondary lines-of-sight may be similarly construct- c: parafoveal area, d: perifoveal area. (From Histology of the Human ed for object points in the peripheral visual field. Eye by Hogan MJ, Alvarado JA, and Weddell JE. W.B. Saunders Because the exit pupil is not readily accessible in Company Publishers, 1971, page 491.) the living eye whereas the entrance pupil is, the committee recommends that calculations for speci- designed to form an in-focus inverted image on a fying the optical aberration of the eye be referenced screen. In the case of the eye, the imaging screen is to the plane of the entrance pupil. the retina. However, unlike film, the “grain” of the retina is not uniform over its extent. Instead, the Background grain is finest at the foveola and falls off quickly as Optical aberration measurements of the eye from the distance from the foveola increases. Conse- various laboratories or within the same laboratory quently, when viewing fine detail, we rotate our eye are not comparable unless they are calculated with such that the object of regard falls on the foveola respect to the same reference axis and expressed in (Fig 2). Thus, aberrations at the foveola have the the same manner. This requirement is complicated greatest impact on an individual’s ability to see fine by the fact that, unlike a camera, the eye is a decen- details. tered optical system with non-rotationally symmet- Two traditional axes of the eye are centered on ric components (Fig 1). The principle elements of the the foveola, the visual axis and the line-of-sight, but eye’s optical system are the cornea, pupil, and the only the latter passes through the pupil center. In crystalline lens. Each can be decentered and tilted object space, the visual axis is typically defined as with respect to other components, thus rendering an the line connecting the fixation object point to the optical system that is typically dominated by coma eye’s first nodal point. In image space, the visual at the foveola. axis is the parallel line connecting the second nodal The optics discipline has a long tradition of spec- point to the center of the foveola (Fig. 3, left). In con- ifying the aberration of optical systems with respect trast, the line-of-sight is defined as the (broken) line to the center of the exit pupil. In a centered optical passing through the center of the eye’s entrance and system (eg, a camera, or telescope) using the center exit pupils connecting the object of regard to the of the exit pupil as a reference for measurement of foveola (Fig. 3, right). The line-of-sight is equivalent on-axis aberration is the same as measuring the to the path of the foveal chief ray and therefore is optical aberrations with respect to the chief ray the axis which conforms to optical standards. The from an axial object point. However, because the visual axis and the line of sight are not the same exit pupil is not readily accessible in the living eye, and in some eyes the difference can have a large it is more practical to reference aberrations to the impact on retinal image quality.2 For a review of the entrance pupil. This is the natural choice for objec- axes of the eye see.3 (To avoid confusion, we note tive aberrometers which analyze light reflected from that Bennett and Rabbetts4 re-define the visual axis the eye. to match the traditional definition of the line of Like a camera, the eye is an imaging device sight. The Bennett and Rabbetts definition is Journal of Refractive Surgery Volume 18 September/October 2002 S653 Standards for Reporting Optical Aberrations of Eyes/Thibos et al Figure 3. Left panel illustrates the visual axis and right panel illus- trates the line of sight. counter to the majority of the literature and is not used here.) Figure 4. Schematic of a generic objective alignment system When measuring the optical properties of the eye designed to place the line of sight on the optical axis of the mea- for objects which fall on the peripheral retina out- surement system. BS: beam splitter, FP: on axis fixation point. side the central fovea, a secondary line-of-sight may be constructed as the broken line from object point to center of the entrance pupil and from the center of the exit pupil to the retinal location of the image. This axis represents the path of the chief ray from the object of interest and therefore is the appropri- ate reference for describing aberrations of the peripheral visual field. METHODS FOR ALIGNING THE EYE DURING MEASUREMENT Summary The committee recommends that instruments Figure 5. Schematic of a generic subjective alignment system designed to measure the optical properties of the eye designed to place the line of sight on the optical axis of the mea- and its aberrations be aligned co-axially with the surement system. BS: beam splitter, FP: fixation point source. eye’s line-of-sight. co-axial with the optical axis of the measurement Background system. There are numerous ways to align the line of sight to the optical axis of the measuring instru- Subjective Method ment.