The aberration and the modulation transfer function in LASEK and LASIK: Pupil size dependence

The wave-front aberrations on the postoperative eyes with two different type of excimer laser surgery have been measured by a Hartmann–Shack wave-front sensor. We have calculated the aberrations for both 3 and 6 mm pupils, and with which to acquire the MTF of the eye. There are no significant differences in wave-front aberrations postoperatively (P>0.05) for 3 mm pupil size, but with 6 mm pupil, LASIK-treated eyes exhibit significant higher aberrations than LASEK-treated eyes for 4th and 5th-order aberrations. For individual Zernike terms, there are significant difference in C33,C4-4, and C40. The MTF for 6 mm pupil is much lower than those for 3 mm pupil across all spatial frequencies. The LASEK curve shows higher than that with LASIK at spatial frequencies less than 60 c/d, which means that the optical quality in LASEK-treated eyes showed better than in LASIK-treated eyes.