Optical Considerations of Unilateral Aphakia

This paper includes an examination of some of the contradictions encountered in a review of the literature of the title subject. The optics of relative spectacle magnification (RSM) are presented together with the results of calculations which reveal eight basic RSM curves in phakia and aphakia, corrected by a spectacle or contact lens in both refractive and axial errors in the range of 20 D myopia through 20 D hyperopia. Contrary to the literature, there is very little magnification difference between similarly corrected axial and refractive errors within a large range. The basis of the notion of equalizing image size by means of a spectacle‐contact lens reverse Colilean telescope is shown to be erroneous. This is demonstrated by an RSM curve drawn from calculated values.