Experimental setup and methodology for automatic quality assessment of intraocular lenses

Intraocular lenses (IOLs) are widely used in cataract surgery. There is a variety of IOLs depending on lens material, optical and mechanical design. Evaluation of the visual performance obtainable with intraocular lenses is important for objective comparison between IOL models. Indeed, the visual performance of implanted lenses has a deep impact on the life of the subjects, having medical, social and economical consequences. The purpose of the present paper is twofold: first, we propose an experimental setup, consisting of an actuated opto–electro– mechanical eye capable of simulating different refractive and optical conditions. Second, we suggest to employ some well– known image quality assessment tools for evaluating the visual performance of different IOLs (or of the same IOL in different conditions) based on the comparison between the original image and that produced by the artificial eye equipped with the IOL. The objective and repeatable results obtained, are in accor- dance with subjective evaluation (a time–consuming procedure employed in previous works).