Chief Supervisor

Prof. KEE Chea-su

Project Title

Optical components involved in astigmatism development: an animal study using a novel ophthalmic device

Synopsis

Astigmatism is a very common refractive error in which the eye’s refractive power varies from one meridian to the next. The prevalence of astigmatism is high in school-aged students, especially in east Asian countries. Of particular clinical concern is the rising population of school-aged Asian children with astigmatism and myopia, including Hong Kong Chinese. Due to a high percentage of complicated visual impairments associated with astigmatism, more attention is drawn to the etiology of astigmatism and the refractive error development associated with it. It has been proposed that the various refractive powers along different meridians in astigmatic eyeball might play a role in improving the efficiency of emmetropization. By developing and applying a novel ophthalmic device designed for small animals, this project will determine how individual ocular refractive components change and how they interact during astigmatic development.  The results will shed light on eye’s optical qualities contributed by essential refractive components during astigmatism development.