WP 1.3: Customized multifocal contact lens for peripheral vision

Multifocal contact lenses are commonly used optical compensations for presbyopia. Their performance has been evaluated with optical and psychophysical methods, but these evaluations are generally limited to the fovea and peripheral performance is often overlooked although it is fundamental for many daily tasks such as walking and driving a car. WP 1.3 quantifies how different multifocal designs affect visual function in the peripheral field. The aim is to explore whether customized designs can preserve mobility and safety while still improving near tasks.

Our peripheral adaptive optics vision simulator, currently being updated with a spatial light modulator, is used to correct each participant’s ocular aberrations and simulate continuous as well as more abrupt multifocal designs. Furthermore, psychophysical methods better suited for reliable peripheral assessment, compared to standard foveal visual acuity, are also developed to capture the effects of aberrations on peripheral visual performance. Using our system, we have evaluated defocus sensitivity with three different methods developed specially for the periphery (Özhan, Mashayekhi, Vedhakrishnan, Börjeson, Unsbo, Romashchenko, Alarcon, Lundstrom. Subjective Evaluation Methods for Peripheral Vision. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2025;66(8):551). Next steps are to compare multifocal profiles and investigate when individualised peripheral optimisation is warranted.