Mechanical Eye Model for Comparison of Optical and Physiological Imaging Properties

The manipulation of the optical functionality of the human eye is an important aspect of most modern ophtalmic technologies. Basis of this manipulations are simulations of the human eye, which can be performed numerical or by mechnical eye models. The optical parameters needed in numerical simulations are measured in–vivo. One of the most important manipulations are cataract surgeries due to the high frequency of their application. During this surgery the clouded eye lens is removed and replaced by an artificial intraocular lens.Different intraocular lens types are applied to patients: mono–, bi– or multifocal refractive lenses and bi– or multifocal microstructured lenses. Depending on the implanted lens type different image properties can be achieved as well as image qualities realized. To evaluate the physical image quality different image quality cirteria were defined and used in the past. Unfortunatly the correlation between most physical quality criteria and the physiological quality of patient's vision is often low, especially in the case of the application of multifocal intraocular lenses. This implicates the need of individual adaptations of intraocular lenses to the patients' vision.To compare directly the physical and the physiological image quality a new mechanical eye model is presented. With this model the image quality can be observed by a proband. A microscope is used to project the image from the artificial retina in the retina of the test person. Additionally a beam splitter is positioned between the artificial retina and the microscope. A camera, placed perpendicular to the optical axis of the microscope, can be used for simultaneous physical image quality measurements. The measurement of quality criteria for different lens decentrations and tilts can be performed automatically.