Mechanical eye model for comparison of optical and physiological imaging properties

Most modern ophthalmic technologies manipulate the optical functionality of the human eye. A simulation of a human eye can be performed by numerical or mechanical eye models and can be verified by in-vivo measurements. The imaging properties of intraocular lenses are important due to the high frequency of cataract surgeries. During this surgery the clouded eye lens is removed and replaced by an artificial intraocular lens. Differnt intraocular lens types exist: mono-, bi- or multifocal refractive lenses and bi- or multifocal microstructured lenses. The implanted lens types have different image properties as well as image qualities. There are different physical quality criteria to evaluate the image quality. Unfortunatly the correlation between most physical quality criteria and the physiological quality of patient´s vision is low, especially in the case of multifocal intraocular lenses. Therefore an individual adaptation of intraocular lenses to the patients´ vision is necessary. Thus a new mechanical eye model in the size of a human eye which allows the direct comparison of physical and physiological image quality is presented. The image quality can be observed by a test person using a microscope. Between the artificial retina and the microscope a beam splitter is positioned. A camera, placed perpendicular to the optical axis of the microscope, can be used for simultaneous physical image quality measurement. The measurement of quality criteria for different lens shifts and tilts can be made automatically.