Descripción del proyecto
THE HUMAN EYE IS ABLE TO FOCUS NEAR AND FAR TARGETS BY CHANGING DYNAMICALLY THE SHAPE OF THE CRYSTALLINE LENS. THIS MECHANISM (ACCOMMODATION) FAILS WITH AGING. PRESBYOPIA AFFECTS 100% OF THE POPULATION OVER 45, AND 1800 MILLION PEOPLE WORLDWIDE. THE PROJECT WILL UNDERTAKE FUNDAMENTAL STUDIES OF THE ACCOMMODATION MECHANISM AND OF THE SPATIAL LIMITS TO VISION, WHICH WILL BE THE BASIS FOR THE OPTIMIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF NEW SOLUTIONS FOR THE CORRECTION OF PRESBYOPIA. IN PARTICULAR, WE WILL STUDY THE OPTICAL AND STRUCTURAL CHANGES IN THE CRYSTALLINE LENS (SURFACE GEOMETRY AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE GRADIENT INDEX OF REFRACTION, ROLE OF THE CAPSULE) AS A FUNCTION OF ACCOMMODATION AND AGING; OPTICAL AND BIOMECHANICAL EFFECTS IN TREATMENTS WITH INTRAOCULAR LENSES, CONTACT LENSES AND CORNEAL SURGERY; THE ROLE OF THE OPTICAL ABERRATIONS (NATURAL OR INDUCED) IN THE EFFECTIVE EXPANSION OF DEPTH-OF-FOCUS, AND THE CONTRIBUTION OF NEURAL ADAPTATION TO MULTIFOCALITY. THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE OPTICAL, PHYSICAL AND BIOMECHANICAL BASES OF ACCOMMODATION WILL BE KEY IN THE CONCEPTUAL DESIGN OF THE ACCOMMODATIVE INTRAOCULAR LENSES PROPOSED IN THE PROJECT. THE STUDY OF OPTICAL AND VISUAL QUALITY WITH NEW BIFOCAL AND THE MANIPULATION OF THE ABERRATION PATTERN, AS WELL AS OF THE FACTORS AFFECTING SPECIFICALLY TO PARTICULAR TYPES OF TREATMENT WILL BE KEY IN THE OPTIMIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF NEW MULTIFOCAL CORRECTIONS OF PRESBYOPIA. THE PROJECT WILL MAKE USE OF NEW NON-INVASIVE TECHNOLOGY AVAILABLE FROM PREVIOUS PROJECTS AND THAT TO BE DEVELOPED SPECIFICALLY FOR THIS PROJECT (HIGH-SPEED OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY TECHNIQUES, TECHNIQUES FOR THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE GRADIENT INDEX OF REFRACTION OF THE CRYSTALLINE LENS, TECHNIQUES FOR SECTIONED OCULAR MICROSCOPY, TECHNIQUES FOR BIOMECHANICAL MEASUREMENTS, POLYCHROMATIC ABERROMETRY/ADAPTIVE OPTICS, MULTIFOCAL CORRECTION SIMULATOR, PSYCHOPHYSICAL METHODS). IN ADDITION TO THE IMPACT ON THE BASIC UNDERSTANDING OF THE VISUAL SYSTEM AND ITS CHANGES WITH AGING AND TREATMENT, THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS AND THE PROPOSAL FOR NEW SOLUTIONS FOR THE CORRECTION OF PRESBYOPIA REPRESENTS AN ENORMOUS CLINICAL AND ECONOMICAL POTENTIAL. PTICA VISUAL\TRATAMIENTO CORNEAL\LENTES INTRAOCULARES\MULTIFOCALIDAD\ACOMODACION\PRESBICIA\ENVEJECIMIENTO\CRISTALINO\OPTICA ADAPTATIVA\IMAGEN OCULAR