Principles of Adaptive Optics and Clinical Applications

Abstract

The human retina is a uniquely accessible tissue. Tools like scanning laser ophthalmoscopy and spectral domain optical coherence tomography provide clinicians with remarkably clear pictures of the living retina. While the anterior optics of the eye permit such non-invasive visualization of the retina and associated pathology, these same optics induce significant aberrations that in most cases obviate cellular-resolution imaging. Adaptive optics (AO) imaging systems use active optical elements to compensate for aberrations in the optical path between the object and the camera. Applied to the human eye, AO allows direct visualization of individual rod and cone photoreceptor cells, Retina pigment epithelial cells and white blood cells. AO imaging has changed the way vision scientists and ophthalmologists see the retina, helping to clarify our understanding of retinal structure, function and the etiology of various retinal pathologies. Here we review some of the advances made possible with AO imaging of the human retina and discuss applications and future prospects for clinical imaging.