To evaluate the spherical aberrations of the anterior and posterior surfaces of normal corneas using Pentacam in a Korean sample population and determine their ranges and changes with age.

We used Pentacam (Oculus Inc.,Germany) to measure the anterior and posterior corneal spherical aberrations of 240 eyes in 240 patients with normal corneas who visited our clinic. The means and ranges of spherical aberrations and their changes with age were determined. We examined both eyes of 90 patients to confirm the inter-ocular symmetry in spherical aberration.

The mean age of the 240 patients (M:F=103:137) was 49.8 years (range: 20-79), and the mean spherical aberrations of the anterior and posterior surfaces of the cornea were 0.230±0.078 µm, and -0.04±0.021 µm, respectively. The mean total corneal spherical aberration was 0.19±0.087 µm. There were no differences between males and females, and inter-ocular symmetry was observed in all tested patients. There was a tendency for the values of anterior, posterior and total corneal spherical aberration to increase with age. Ranges of spherical aberrations were from -0.177 µm to 0.423 µm in the anterior cornea, from -0.083 µm to 0.034 µm in the posterior cornea, and from -0.238 µm to 0.410 µm in the total cornea.

In a Korean population, the mean total corneal spherical aberration was 0.19 µm, which was shown to increase with age. Some patients were shown to have an extreme value. Based on these results, a preoperative analysis for corneal spherical aberration may be helpful when selecting aspheric intraocular lenses.