Multifocal Contact Lens HDR Image Simulation Showing Dysphotopsia

A system is developed for simulating the image quality and dysphotopsia of multifocal lenses. To achieve this, the simulation modifies a High Dynamic Range (HDR) photograph by blurring it with the lens' point spread function in MATLAB. Dysphotopsias are instances of unwanted or missing light within the eye. Common forms of dysphotopsia include glare, starburst (radial lines emanating from bright sources), and halo (rings of light surrounding bright sources) with the latter two typically occurring at night or in other high contrast settings. Dysphotopsia is considered the most common complaint of patients after successful cataract surgery and have thus earned significant attention in the context of intraocular lenses (IOLs). There have been fewer studies of multifocal contact lens dysphotopsia, but this is despite the documented impact dysphotopsia has on the image quality of multifocal lenses. This simulation is the first handling of dysphotopsia that combines HDR images and specifics of the lens design to predict how the dysphotopsia will appear to patients. Being able to show patients accurate simulations of dysphotopsia has the benefit of setting proper patient expectations before they begin using multifocal lenses. Furthermore, these simulated images can also potentially help diagnose patient problems by giving patients an accurate baseline to compare to.