Correction of higher order aberrations in intraocular lenses

1. A method of designing an intraocular lens (IOL) to address variations in at least one ocular parameter in a population of patient eyes and manufacturing the IOL, comprising

establishing at least one eye model in which the ocular parameter can be varied over a range exhibited by the population,

employing the eye model to evaluate a plurality of IOL designs for visual performance for eyes in the patient population,

applying a weighting function to visual performance exhibited by the plurality of IOL designs, said function being based on distribution of the ocular parameter in the population,

selecting an IOL design that provides a best fit for visual performance over at least a portion of the range exhibited by the population;

and manufacturing at least one IOL according to the selected IOL design.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said visual performance comprises visual acuity.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising determining the best fit for visual acuity as an optimal value of a weighted visual acuity among the IOL designs.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising determining a modulation transfer function at the retina of the eye model for obtaining the visual acuity exhibited by the plurality of IOL designs.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating said plurality of IOL designs based on varying at least one lens design parameter.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein said ocular parameter comprises ocular axial length.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein said ocular parameter comprises corneal asphericity.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein said ocular parameter comprises corneal radius.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein said ocular parameter comprises ocular anterior chamber depth.

10. A method of designing an intraocular lens (IOL) and manufacturing the IOL, comprising

generating a human eye model in which at least one ocular biometric parameter can be varied,

evaluating optical performance of a plurality of IOL designs by incorporating the designs in the eye model and varying said ocular parameter over at least a portion of a range exhibited by eyes in a patient population, and

applying a weighting function to visual performance exhibited by the plurality of IOL designs, said function being based on distribution of the ocular parameter in the population,

selecting one of the IOL designs that provides a desirable level of performance; and manufacturing at least one IOL according to the selected IOL design.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein said ocular parameter comprises any of corneal radius, corneal asphericity, anterior chamber depth or ocular axial length.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising generating said IOL designs by varying at least one lens design parameter.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein said lens design parameter comprises any of a conic constant of an aspherical lens surface, two conic constants associated with a toric lens surface or an apodization function associated with step heights at zone boundaries of a diffractive pattern disposed on a lens surface.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the step of evaluating optical performance of the plurality of IOL designs further comprises employing the eye model to determine an average visual acuity provided by that design over said ocular parameter range.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising calculating a modulation transfer function at the retina of the eye model for determining said visual acuity.

16. The method of claim 10 , further comprising identifying the IOL design of the plurality of IOL designs that exhibits the largest weighted average visual acuity as providing an optimal performance.

17. The method of claim 10 , further comprising utilizing Monte Carlo simulation for varying said ocular parameter.

18. The method of claim 10 , further comprising incorporating an estimate of manufacturing tolerance associated with at least one lens characteristic into the plurality of IOL designs.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein said lens characteristic comprises irregularities associated with a lens surface.

20. The method of claim 18 , wherein said lens characteristic comprises a radius of a lens surface.

21. The method of claim 18 , wherein said lens characteristic comprises an asphericity of a lens surface.

22. The method of claim 18 , wherein said lens characteristic comprises lens thickness.

23. A method of designing a family of intraocular lenses (IOLs) and manufacturing IOLs in the family, comprising

establishing at least one eye model in which at least one ocular parameter can be varied over a range exhibited by a population of patient eyes,

employing the eye model to evaluate a plurality of IOL designs for visual performance for eyes in the patient population,

applying a weighting function to visual performance exhibited by the plurality of IOL designs, said function being based on distribution of the ocular parameter in the population,

selecting at least two IOL designs one of which provides a best fit for visual performance for one portion of the population and the other provides a best fit for visual performance for another portion of the population, and

manufacturing at least one IOL according to each of the at least two selected IOL designs

24. The method of claim 23 , wherein said ocular parameter comprises ocular axial length.

25. The method of claim 23 , wherein said ocular parameter comprises corneal asphericity

26. The method of claim 23 , wherein said ocular parameter comprises corneal radius.

27. The method of claim 23 , wherein said ocular parameter comprises anterior chamber depth.

28. The method of claim 23 , wherein the step of selecting at least two IOL designs comprises selecting three IOL designs for three portions of the population, wherein said IOL designs exhibit, respectively, a spherical aberration of about −0.1, about −0.2 and about −0.3 microns.