Correcting ocular spherical aberration with soft contact lenses

Following aberroscopy, aspheric front surface soft contact lenses (SCLs) were custom-made to correct spherical refractive error and ocular spherical aberration (SA) of 18 myopic and five hypermetropic subjects (age, 20.5 +/- 5 yr). On-eye residual aberrations, logMAR visual acuity, and contrast sensitivity were compared with the best-correcting spectacle lens, an equally powered standard SCL, and an SCL designed to be aberration free in air. Custom-made and spherical SCLs reduced SA (p < 0.001; p < 0.05) but did not change total root-mean-square (rms) wave-front aberration (WFA). Aberration-free SCLs increased SA (p < 0.05), coma (p < 0.05), and total rms WFA. Visual acuity remained unchanged with any of the SCL types compared with the spectacle lens correction. Contrast sensitivity at 6 cycles/degree improved with the custom-made SCLs (p < 0.05). Increased coma with aspheric lens designs and uncorrected astigmatism limit the small possible visual benefit from correcting ocular SA with SCLs.