Presbyopia correction through negative high-order spherical aberration

A system for treating presbyopia of an eye, the eye having a cornea and a retina, the system comprising:

• a prescription generator module coupled to an output, the prescription generator module defining a presbyopia-mitigating quantity of high-order negative spherical aberration for the eye, such that the eye has an induced negative spherical aberration and such that the eye images a point source, when the point source is disposed at a viewing distance from the treated eye, to a plane between the cornea and the retina, and such that the image has a central area with a central intensity surrounded by a peripheral area with a peripheral intensity, the central intensity being higher than the peripheral intensity, the output configured for communication to a lens producing or eye modifying assembly, wherein the prescription generator has an input;
• a wavefront system coupled to the input of the prescription generator, the wavefront system generating a plurality of refractive Zernike coefficients corresponding to sensed aberrations of an eye;
• and
• the lens producing or eye modifying assembly, including an ablative laser beam for imposing a prescription on the eye by directing a pattern of laser energy toward a cornea of the eye;
• wherein the prescription generator combines the refractive Zernike coefficients with at least one presbyopia-mitigating Zernike coefficient, the at least one presbyopia-mitigating Zernike coefficient comprising at least one high-order Zernike coefficient corresponding to the presbyopia-mitigating quantity of spherical aberration, so as to provide the eye with between about 0.1 and about 0.3 microns of negative spherical aberration across the pupil.