Purpose: To evaluate and compare optical and visual quality of eyes implanted with spherical and aspheric intraocular lenses (IOLs).
Methods: Twenty eyes of 17 patients were implanted with the AcrySof Natural IQ aspheric IOL (SN60WF) and 20 eyes of 15 patients were implanted with the AcrySof Natural spherical IOL (SN60AT). Photopic monocular distance best spectacle-corrected visual acuity (BSCVA) was recorded at 6 months postoperatively. Corneal aberrations were measured with the CSO Eyetop topographer, and ocular aberrations were measured with a Hartmann-Shack aberrometer for a 6-mm pupil. Ocular spherical aberration was computed for different pupil diameters (3, 4, 5, and 6 mm).
Results: No statistically significant differences were found between the BSCVA of the AcrySof IQ IOL (0.023 +/- 0.004 logMAR) and AcrySof Natural IOL (0.031 +/- 0.003 logMAR) (P = .15). The corneal higher order aberrations showed no statistically significant differences between groups (P > .1). However, spherical aberration and higher order ocular aberrations in the AcrySof IQ eyes were lower than eyes implanted with the AcrySof Natural IOL (P < .01). A statistically significant increase in the spherical aberration coefficient with pupil diameter was found only for the spherical IOL group (P = .0023). Statistically significant differences in the spherical aberration coefficient were found between groups at all pupil diameters (P < .001).
Conclusions: A significant reduction in ocular spherical aberration was noted after AcrySof IQ IOL implantation at all pupil diameters compared to the spherical IOL, although photopic BSCVA between groups remained similar.