Bueeler M Mrochen M Seiler T 2003 PURPOSE To investigate the lateral alignment accuracy needed in wavefront-guided refractive surgery to improve the ocular optics to a desired level in a percentage of normally aberrated eyes. SETTING Department of Ophthalmology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. METHODS The effect of laterally misaligned ablations on the optical outcome was simulated using measured wavefront aberration patterns from 130 normal eyes. The calculations were done for 3.0 mm, 5.0 mm, and 7.0 mm pupils. The optical quality of the simulated correction was rated by means of the root-mean-square residual wavefront error. RESULTS To achieve the diffraction limit in 95% of the normal eyes with a 7.0 mm pupil, a lateral alignment accuracy of 0.07 mm or better was required. An accuracy of 0.2 mm was sufficient to reach the same goal with a 3.0 mm pupil. CONCLUSION Procedures must be developed to ensure that the ablation is within a tolerance range based on each eye's original optical error. Rough centration based on the surgeon's judgment might not be accurate enough to achieve significantly improved optical quality in a high percentage of treated eyes. https://sonar.ch/global/documents/74933 eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/s0886-3350(02)01638-3 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pmid/12648634 Journal of cataract and refractive surgery. - 2003 Adolescent Adult Cornea Eye Movements Female Humans Keratomileusis, Laser In Situ Lasers, Excimer Male Middle Aged Ocular Physiological Phenomena Perceptual Distortion Photorefractive Keratectomy Pupil Refraction, Ocular Refractive Errors Refractive Surgical Procedures Maximum permissible lateral decentration in aberration-sensing and wavefront-guided corneal ablation. http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501