Simulating IOL vision before implanting a lens

Heidelberg 25 June 2025. We are very pleased to share our latest research paper on IOL simulators which appears in the prestigious Journal of the Optical Society of America - a peer-reviewed scientific journal of optics. and we are delighted that the publishers have granted Open access for this paper

Z. Wu, A. Zielińska, G. Auffarth, A. Rayamajhi, L. Britz, R. Khoramnia, and G. Łabuz, “Using a look-through simulator to analyze the correlation between functional and optical properties of intraocular lenses,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 42, C6-C12 (2025).

Overview.

An IOL simulator can offer patients the opportunity to experience vision through IOLs without the need for the IOL to be implanted. Simulating IOL vision is a novel technology that is gaining increasing interest among clinicians and researchers. For the patient, it might offer an opportunity to compare what their vision might be like with one model of IOL compared to another. Recently, we had the chance at the David J Apple laboratory to assess the RALV (Real Artificial Lens Vision) binocular device (DEZIMAL GmbH, Vienna, Austria). We worked with healthy volunteers who could act as patients using one IOL model inserted in the simulator. We could measure their subjective defocus curves and compare that to the objective metrics we obtained for that IOL model using the IOL metrology device we routinely use in our laboratory.

What we did

We examined the correlation between a look-through RALV simulator and the optical properties of modern IOLs, measured using our OptiSpheric IOL PRO 2 (TRIOPTICS GmbH, Wedel, Germany) IOL metrology apparatus.

• Photo of one of our volunteer-observers using the RALV simulator.

Subjective defocus responses from five volunteer observers using the RALV were compared with the through-focus optical quality of IOLs and assessed by measuring the optical transfer function (OTF) and using its components to predict postoperative visual acuity. 

What we found

We found a strong relationship between the OTF metrics and simulator defocus curves.

Potential future research

We are fortunate that the RALV simulator will remain in our laboratory, enabling us to conduct further research using new IOL models. We plan to build a library of measurements for different IOL models.

To read our open access paper please follow this link https://doi.org/10.1364/JOSAA.559739