Accommodation response and spherical aberration during orthokeratology.

purposeTo evaluate the changes in the accommodative response and in the corneal and internal spherical aberration during 3 months of wear of orthokeratology lenses from the baseline.

methodsFifty children aged 8 to 17 were recruited for a prospective study and were fitted with orthokeratology lenses. Refraction without cycloplegia, high and low uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA), best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), accommodation lag, horizontal near phoria without correction, corneal topography, corneal, and total wavefront aberration were performed at baseline, 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months. Data were analyzed by Student's t test for related samples, repeated measures ANOVA test, and Pearson correlation test.

resultsThe spherical equivalent (SE) before and after 3 months was - 3.33 ± 1.60 D and - 0.30 ± 0.46 D, respectively. Accommodation lag was 0.53 ± 0.38 D and 0.20 ± 0.33 D at baseline and at 3 months, respectively. A moderate correlation between lag at the baseline and its change between baseline and the 3-month visit was found (P < 0.05; R = 0.748). The spherical aberration (SA) increased for anterior corneal and total measurement, being statistically significant for all visits (P < 0.05). The internal SA decreased: - 0.105 ± 0.006 at baseline and - 0.196 ± 0.203 at 1 week (P < 0.05). No difference between baseline and the follow-up visits in posterior corneal SA was found (P > 0.05)

conclusionThe negative SA of the lens increases during OK treatment compensated for the increase of the anterior corneal surface positive SA, in addition to increasing the accommodative response.