Correlation between radius and asphericity in surfaces fitted by conics

The optical surfaces of the eye are often described in terms of their radius and asphericity. The variations caused by experimental noise in repeated measurements of radius and asphericity of the same surface are strongly correlated. We show this correlation in experimental corneal elevation data from videokeratoscopy and Scheimpflug topography, in non-contact profilometry data of artificial lenses, and in simulations. The effect is a characteristic of the fits to conic curves, and not restricted to any experimental device or fitting procedure. A separate analysis of radius and asphericity may estimate incorrectly the statistical significance of the changes in the ocular surfaces. We propose a MANOVA-based statistical analysis that increases sensitivity by a factor of 4.