Experimental investigation of accommodation in eyes fit with multifocal contact lenses using a clinical auto-refractor

Purpose: Multifocal or multi-zone contact lenses are increasingly being fit to young eyes in an attempt to control myopia progression. However, success in achieving this aim may depend on how much the eye accommodates. The purpose of the current work was to evaluate the ability of an open-field clinical autorefractor to measure on-axis refractive state and accommodation in eyes fit with multifocal contact lenses (CLs).

Methods: Refractive state was measured with a Grand Seiko WAM-5500 autorefractor (www.grandseiko.com) and a clinical Shack-Hartmann Complete Ophthalmic Analysis System (COAS) aberrometer (www.wfsci.com) in subjects fit bilaterally with single vision aspheric contact lenses, centre distance, and centre near zonal multifocal CLs, and an experimental myopia control multi-zone bifocal CLs (MiSight). Autorefractor measurements were obtained when aligned with the pupil centre, pupil margin, and mid-periphery. Accuracy of refractive state measurements was evaluated using a fully presbyopic (62-year-old) dilated (pupil diameter = 7.1 mm) eye measured through known added spherical powers (trial lenses) of +1.00 D to +6.00 D. Refractive state and accommodation were measured for seven young myopic eyes (23.71 ± 2.87 years) with six target vergences ranging from -0.33 D to -5.00 D.

Results: Irrespective of the CL fitted, measured changes in refractive state of the calibration eye were within ≤0.25 D of the added sphere power and the slope (measured refractive state/trial lens power) was approximately -1.0 D/D for both Shack-Hartmann (COAS) aberrometer and Grand Seiko instruments. Also, the Grand Seiko data were highly repeatable (mean measurement standard deviation = 0.04 D) as long as measurements occurred at the same pupil location, but exhibited a hyperopic bias that increased to +1.00 D when eyes were fit with CLs containing significant negative spherical aberration. Centre and marginal refractive states could differ by >3.00 D due to the combined spherical aberration contained in the eye plus the different CL designs. Measured refractive states of young accommodating eyes also varied with measurement location in the pupil. The accommodation gains were similar at each pupil location, irrespective of contact lens design.

Conclusions: With consistent sampling at the same pupil location, the open field Grand Seiko clinical autorefractor proved an effective tool for assessing the on-axis refractive state and accommodative responses of eyes fit with multi-zone bifocal and multifocal CLs.