Modelling The Pupil Displacement During Pharmacologically Induced Mydriasis

Abstract

The pupil is an important componant of the optics of the human eye. Pupil centration and diameter contribute to retinal image quality1,2. It has been previously shown that the geometric center of the entrance pupil of the eye may shift during mydriasis, either pharmacologically induced or naturally induced by darkness3-6. However, the repeatability of the pupil displacement has not been studied and it does not seem to be known whether this shift occurs at random or not for a given subject. This information is important for photorefractive surgery7 because the relative centration of the ablated corneal zone with respect to the pupil is a critical issue for retinal image quality. Pupil displacement with respect to this corneal zone occurring during pupil dilation may introduce a comatic aberration and this could explain some complaints reported by patients at night.