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Changes in normal ocular biometry and optics with age
Author(s) -
Rozema J.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
acta ophthalmologica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.534
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1755-3768
pISSN - 1755-375X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1755-3768.2017.02743
Subject(s) - keratometer , optometry , emmetropia , refraction , ophthalmology , population , range (aeronautics) , refractive error , medicine , optics , cornea , physics , visual acuity , engineering , environmental health , aerospace engineering
Summary Ocular biometry can vary widely between subjects of similar gender and age. The intraocular interaction to achieve a particular refraction is almost unique for each individual eye. For this reason, a single eye model cannot adequately represent the range of keratometry and axial length data (e.g. about 0.5% of the general population is represented by the Gullstrand eye). This can have practical repercussions, e.g. for IOL power calculations. Moreover, ocular biometry is known to undergo many changes with age. Such modifications are very rapid and extensive in infants, towards a more stable situation in young adults, where changes are more gradual and almost uniquely lenticular in nature. While the changes themselves have been extensively described in literature, many underlying factors remain insufficiently understood. This makes any attempt beyond descriptive modelling (e.g. forecasting refractive evolution) a very challenging proposition for now. This talk highlights observed wide variations in biometry in the general population, introduces three main types of changes with age (emmetropization, myopization and lenticular changes), and discusses how changes in biometry contribute to the known evolution of refraction.