Elsevier

Ophthalmology

Volume 112, Issue 11, November 2005, Pages 2022-2029
Ophthalmology

Original article
Crystalline Lens Optical Dysfunction through Aging

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ophtha.2005.04.034Get rights and content

Purpose

To evaluate the optical and densitometric changes that take place in the crystalline lens with aging.

Design

Cross-sectional study.

Participants

Seventy-two eyes of 72 patients of different ages (8–80 years) with a clear lens, a visual acuity of 20/25 or better, and no ocular disease.

Methods

In each case, the lens thickness, optical density, modulation transfer function (MTF), and intraocular aberrations were measured.

Main Outcome Measures

Embryonic and fetal nucleus density, lens thickness, intraocular high-order aberration (HOA), and 0.1 MTF.

Results

Embryonic, anterior, and posterior fetal nucleus densities show a positive correlation with age (P<0.0001, P<0.0001, and P<0.0001, respectively). Lens thickness also shows a positive correlation with age (P<0.0001). Total ocular and corneal HOAs for a 6-mm pupil show a positive correlation with age (P = 0.036 and P<0.0001, respectively). Ocular and corneal Zernike polynomials Z4i+Z6i and intraocular spherical aberration (Z40) also show a positive correlation with age (P = 0.001, P = 0.039, and P = 0.001, respectively). Intraocular coma aberration (Z3−1) shows a negative linear correlation with age (P<0.0001). In addition, 0.1 MTF decreased with age from 18.557 to 10.100 cycles per degree.

Conclusion

There is a degradation of the optical quality of the crystalline lens with aging that is associated with morphological changes (thickness and density). These results are important for the consideration of lens replacement in the absence of evident cataract.

Section snippets

Population

In this cross-sectional observational study, 72 patients were examined. Subjects were recruited consecutively between January and May 2003 at VISSUM, Instituto Oftalmológico de Alicante, Spain. Only one eye from each subject was studied.

The male to female ratio was 26/46, and the age of the subjects ranged from 8 to 80 years (41±21 [mean ± standard deviation (SD)]). The spherical equivalent (SE) refraction ranged from −3.00 to +2.75 diopters (D) (0.40±1.25 [mean ± SD]).

The tenets of the

Results

Results were first analyzed for the entire population, then subjects were arbitrarily divided into 4 age groups: group 1 included subjects from 8 to 20 years old (n = 15); group 2, subjects from 21 to 40 (n = 20); group 3, subjects from 41 to 60 (n = 21); and group 4, subjects from 61 to 80 (n = 16).

Nucleus density is represented in Figure 4, Figure 5, Figure 6. Densities of embryonic, anterior fetal, and posterior fetal nuclei show a positive correlation with aging after the age of 40 (r =

Discussion

In the present study, we analyzed the densitometric changes that take place in the crystalline lens with aging and how these changes affect the optical quality of the eye. Densitometric changes were studied on the lens nucleus, which is the oldest anatomical region of the crystalline lens.

In our study, nucleus density showed a positive correlation with age, after 40 years, for embryonic, anterior fetal, and posterior fetal nuclei. When different age groups are analyzed, we can see that nucleus

References (21)

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Manuscript no. 2004-201.

This study has been supported in part by a grant of the Spanish Ministry of Health, Instituto Carlos III, Red Temática de Investigación en Oftalmología, Subproyecto de Cirugía Refractiva y Calidad Visual, Madrid, Spain (grant no.: C03/13).

The authors have no proprietary interest in any of the materials or methods described herein.

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