Like autorefractors before them, all ophthalmic wavefront analysis devices have the ability to provide a mechanical refraction. That is to say they can provide what should be your prescription based upon pure optics. However, we do not see with pure optics.
It has been found that in many instances, the good ole reliable subjective manifest refraction (which is better, one or two) is better at providing satisfactory vision correction than a mechanical refraction. That is because the person who ultimately determines what is the best quality of vision participates in that decision. The one or two is not just about optics, but is also about the entire opticalneurological process that we call sight.
Studies have found that when all optics are corrected and the wavefront is virtually flap, patients complain of poor quality of vision. Some higher order aberrations are necessary for adults to see well.
There is at least one company that is starting to create wavefront glasses with some success reported by wearers, but the physics of wavefront-guided vision correction will make this technique very limited.
Glenn Hagele
http://www.USAEyes.org
I am not a doctor.
