Purpose. The study investigates corneal and higher-order internal aberrations in patients with amblyopia of different etiologies and their relationship with visual acuity, refraction, axial length, and fixation parameters.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Forty-five patients (90 eyes) were examined. All patients were divided into five groups: 1 — with dysbinocular amblyopia; 2 — with refractive amblyopia; 3 — with anisometropic amblyopia; 4 — with relative amblyopia due to congenital myopia; 5 (control) — fellow eyes without amblyopia. Aberrometry was performed using the OPD-Scan III device (Nidek, Japan). Fixation parameters were studied on the MP-3 microperimeter (Nidek, Japan). Correlation analysis was performed using Pearson’s linear correlation coefficient (r).

RESULTS

In amblyopia associated with congenital myopia, a significant increase in corneal and internal aberrations RMS, Total HOA, astigmatism (V) (0.65±0.26; 1.01±0.31; 4.22±1.17; –2.17±0.72; 0.86±0.3, respectively; control group — 0.44±0.19; 0.58±0.27; 1.0±0.75; –0.94±0.89; 0.47±0.65) and internal spherical aberration (0.06±0.02; control group — 0.04±0.03) was found. In dysbinocular amblyopia, a significant increase in internal aberrations Trefoil (V) and Coma (H) (0.75±0.52 and 0.17±0.35, respectively; control group — 0.05±0.28 and –0.07±0.21) was found, which correlated with a decrease in fixation density in the 2° ring (r= –0.40, r= –0.41).

CONCLUSIONS

The increased level of higher-order aberrations in amblyopia associated with congenital myopia is due to the anatomical and optical features of the eyes. The increase in internal aberrations Trefoil (V) and Coma (H) in dysbinocular amblyopia is associated with a mismatch of the optical elements of the eye due to impaired fixation, i.e., it is not the cause, but the consequence of amblyopia.