Corneal higher order aberrations and their changes with aging

Abstract Cornea is the most important refractive medium of the eye and affects its total aberration state. This paper deals with corneal higher order aberrations in healthy humans and evaluates their changes with aging and corneal curvature. The influence of the corneal anterior and posterior surfaces on aberrations of the whole cornea was also investigated. The examination was performed with a Scheimpflug camera which enables to examine the anterior and posterior corneal surface separately. The results show that higher order aberrations of the whole cornea are influenced mainly by the anterior surface aberrations. The main corneal higher order aberration is the Z (4,0) spherical aberration which has a positive value and increases with age. Also, 3rd order aberration values are of importance, especially coma which also increases with age. As a consequence, the root-mean-square of the 3rd and 4th order aberrations in elderly people has a higher value.