Vaegan Seminar: Evaluating functional differences in presbyopic contact lens fitting through eye movements and electrophysiology

Please join us for our next Vaegan seminar to be presented by Associate Professor Fabrizio (University of Milano-Bicocca). His Vaegan is entitled "Evaluating functional differences in presbyopic contact lens fitting through eye movements and electrophysiology"

Title: Evaluating functional differences in presbyopic contact lens fitting through eye movements and electrophysiology.

Speaker: A/Prof Fabrizio Zeri (University of Milano-Bicocca)

Time/Date: 4pm Friday 09 October 2026 (AEDT)

Location: ONLINE via MS Teams https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/440498991386352?p=qwNTJDqOQP1lyVYzO2 (Meeting ID: 440 498 991 386 352 | Passcode: BF7bq9Pk)

Abstract: Presbyopia prevalence is rapidly increasing worldwide alongside an ageing population, currently affecting over 1.3 billion people. (Hoden et al, 2005) Presbyopic individuals increasingly desire to maintain active lifestyles without relying on spectacles. This can be achieved through contact lenses (CLs) using two primary optical strategies: simultaneous vision (via multifocal CLs) and monovision. Both approaches represent "passive" strategies to compensate for accommodative decline, creating pseudo-accommodation.

In the first approach, different concentric zones of a multifocal CL simultaneously provide optical power for distance and near vision across the entrance pupil. By inducing controlled spherical aberrations, these lenses extend the eye's depth of focus. In contrast, monovision induces an interocular optical imbalance, fully correcting one eye for distance and the fellow eye for near vision. From an optical perspective, both strategies represent sub-optimal solutions that inherently reduce contrast sensitivity. Multifocal CLs alter the Optical Transfer Function at best focus due to induced spherical aberrations, whereas monovision superimposes an in-focus image from one eye onto a blurred image from the other. These optical compromises likely contribute to the drop in CL retention among presbyopes (Sulley et al., 2017; Morgan et al., 2009, 2011).

Patient satisfaction with these fittings remains highly variable and unpredictable, as it heavily relies on central visual processing rather than mere optical correction alone. Understanding the neurofunctional correlates of pseudo-accommodative strategies is therefore paramount.

This lecture presents two lines of research addressing this issue. First, the visual stress induced by these types of CLs was investigated by analyzing reading behavior through eye-movement recordings. (Zeri et al, 2018) Second, cortical activity in neophyte presbyopes fitted with multifocal CLs versus monovision was assessed using high-density electroencephalography (HD-EEG) and visual evoked potentials (VEPs). (Zeri et al, 2018b; Zeri et al, 2024)

References

• Holden, B. A., Fricke, T. R., Ho, S. M., Wong, R., Schlenther, G., Cronjé, S., ... & Frick, K. D. (2008). Global vision impairment due to uncorrected presbyopia. Archives of ophthalmology, 126(12), 1731-1739.
• Morgan, P. B., & Efron, N. (2009). Contact lens correction of presbyopia. Contact Lens and Anterior Eye, 32(4), 191-192.
• Morgan, P. B., Efron, N., Woods, C. A., & International Contact Lens Prescribing Survey Consortium. (2011). An international survey of contact lens prescribing for presbyopia. Clinical and Experimental Optometry, 94(1), 87-92.
• Sulley, A., Young, G., & Hunt, C. (2017). Factors in the success of new contact lens wearers. Contact Lens and Anterior Eye, 40(1), 15-24.
• Zeri, F., Naroo, S. A., Zoccolotti, P., & De Luca, M. (2018). Pattern of reading eye movements during monovision contact lens wear in presbyopes. Scientific reports, 8(1), 15574.
• Zeri, F., Berchicci, M., Naroo, S. A., Pitzalis, S., & Di Russo, F. (2018). Immediate cortical adaptation in visual and non‐visual areas functions induced by monovision. The Journal of physiology, 596(2), 253-266.
• Zeri, F., Di Vizio, A., Lucia, S., Berchicci, M., Bianco, V., Pitzalis, S., ... & Di Russo, F. (2024). Cortical dynamics in visual areas induced by the first use of multifocal contact lenses in presbyopes. Contact Lens and Anterior Eye, 47(3), 102137.

Bio: Fabrizio Zeri is an Associate Professor at the University of Milano-Bicocca, research Fellow at the College of Health and Life Sciences of Aston University (Birmingham, UK). He achieved his Diploma in Optometry at the ISSO of Rome and graduated in Experimental Psychology at “Sapienza University” of Rome where also gained his PhD in Cognitive Neurosciences. He has been President of the Italian Optometric Society and founder and secretary of the Italian Contact Lens Academy. He is FIACLE, Ambassador and Fellow of the BCLA, FHEA and member of ISCLR. He is the Regional Director for Europe Africa and Middle East region of the IACLE. In 2014, he achieved a Marie Curie research grant and moved to Aston University for a two-year research project on presbyopia correction. In 2017, he was awarded the Irvine Fatt memorial Lecture by BCLA and in 2019 received the IACLE EAME Contact Lens Educator of the Year Award. He has published over 70 peer reviewed papers as well as having written 1 book and contributed chapters to 6 books. He has given over 100 lectures at conferences in the fields of Ophthalmology, Optometry, Contact lenses and Vision Sciences. He is Associate Editor of Contact lens and Anterior Eye.