Will a patient with Accommodative Insufficiency have a lag or lead of accommodation on MEM?

Will a patient with Accommodative Insufficiency have a lag or lead of accommodation on MEM?

• A. Lag of Accommodation
• B. Lead of Accommodation
• C. Neutral
• D. Varied

Answer: (A)

Accommodative response during near viewing is what MEM is measuring: is the eye’s adjustment matching the demand, lagging behind it, or overshooting it? In accommodative insufficiency, the eye doesn’t fully meet the near demand, so the accommodative response falls short. On MEM, this shows up as a lag of accommodation—the reflex neutralizes with a plus lens, indicating you needed a bit more accommodation than the patient could provide. If there were a lead, the patient would be over-accommodating and the neutralization would occur with a minus lens. A neutral result would mean the response matched the demand with no lens needed, and a varied result would imply inconsistent measurements.

Accommodative response during near viewing is what MEM is measuring: is the eye’s adjustment matching the demand, lagging behind it, or overshooting it? In accommodative insufficiency, the eye doesn’t fully meet the near demand, so the accommodative response falls short. On MEM, this shows up as a lag of accommodation—the reflex neutralizes with a plus lens, indicating you needed a bit more accommodation than the patient could provide.

If there were a lead, the patient would be over-accommodating and the neutralization would occur with a minus lens. A neutral result would mean the response matched the demand with no lens needed, and a varied result would imply inconsistent measurements.