Amplitude of accommodation explained

The amplitude of accommodation is the maximum potential increase in optical power that an eye can achieve in adjusting its focus. It refers to a certain range of object distances for which the retinal image is as sharply focused as possible.

Amplitude of accommodation is measured during routine eye-examination. The closest that a normal eye can focus is typically about 10 cm for a child or young adult. Accommodation then decreases gradually with age, effectively finishing just after age fifty.^{[1] [2] [3]}

The average amplitude of accommodation, in diopters, for a patient of a given age was estimated by Hofstetter in 1950 to be 18.5 − (0.30 * patient age in years) with the minimum amplitude of accommodation as 15 − (0.25 * age in years), and the maximum as 25 − (0.40 * age in years). However, Hofstetter's work was based on data from two early surveys^{[4] [5]} which, although widely cited, used methodology with considerable inherent error. (Donders, Sheard, Duane, Turner for reference)

See also

• Convergence insufficiency
• Eye examination
• Negative relative accommodation
• Positive relative accommodation
• Presbyopia

Notes and References

1. Anderson H, Hentz G, Glasser A, Stuebing K, Manny R. Minus-Lens–Stimulated Accommodative Amplitude Decreases Sigmoidally with Age: A Study of Objectively Measured Accommodative Amplitudes from Age 3. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 2008; 49; 2919-2926.
2. Atchison D, Capper E, McCabe, K. Critical subjective measurement of amplitude of accommodation. Optom Vis Sci 1994; 71: 699-706
3. Hamasaki D, Ong J, Marg E. The amplitude of accommodation in presbyopia. Am J Optom 1956; 33: 3-14.
4. Duane A. Studies in monocular and binocular accommodation with their clinical applications. Trans Am Ophthalmol Soc 1922; 20: 132-157
5. Donders F. On the anomalies of the accommodation and refraction of the eye. (W. Moore Trans.) UK: The New Sydenham Society, 1864. p 207-209.