A comparison of wavefront aberrations in eyes wearing different types of soft contact lenses

Purpose. The purpose of this study is to investigate the optical quality of eyes wearing different types of soft contact lenses (sCLs) using wavefront aberrometry. Method. A psychophysical aberrometer (WFA1000B; BriteEye, SuZhou, China) was used to measure wavefront aberrations for 56 eyes of 28 subjects under four conditions: 1) without contact lenses (non-CL), 2) with lathe-cut contact lenses (lathe-cut CL; Shuliang, Weicon Optics, Shanghai, China), 3) with cast-molded contact lenses (cast-molded CL; Vistavue, JJ Lanfenzhiji, Justcome Optics, Beijing, China). The three types of sCLs were made from different materials and lens design. The root mean square (RMS) values of the wavefront aberrations and individual Zernike aberrations were calculated and compared among the CL-wearing conditions. Results. Astigmatism was not significantly changed by any of the three soft contact lenses when compared with the non-CL condition. However, a significant difference in the RMS values of higher-order aberrations was observed between the lens types (F = 8.29, p < 0.0001). Induced higher-order aberrations were found for both the cast-molded CL and the spun-cast CL conditions. There were significant differences in the aberrations in each of the higher orders between the CL conditions (F = 3.77, p = 0.011 for third order; F = 5.31, p = 0.002 for fourth order; F = 13.86, p < 0.0001 for fifth and higher orders). More higher-order Zernike aberrations such as coma and spherical aberration were induced by cast-molded CLs and/or the spun-cast CLs. Conclusion. Wavefront aberrations in the eyes with soft contact lenses vary from one individual lens type to another. Although the variation in wavefront aberrations could be attributed to the differences in the methods of manufacture, influences from other factors such as the lens material and lens design could not be excluded and deserve further investigation.