[Contrast sensitivity of several blindness-inducing eye diseases and the influence of tinted filter lens].

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the effects of tinted filter lens on the visual rehabilitation of blind and low vision patients induced by optic nerve atrophy, glaucoma and retinitis pigmentosa.

METHODS

The contrast sensitivity of 22 cases with optic nerve atrophy (34 eyes), 17 glaucoma (30 eyes), 18 retinitis pigmentosa (30 eyes) and 30 normal people (60 eyes) with and without yellow and red filter lens was tested.

RESULTS

The results demonstrated that a yellow filter lens could improve the optic nerve atrophy patient's contrast sensitivity at 1.5, 3, 6 and 12 c/deg, while a red filter lens could increase the contrast sensitivity at limited spatial frequencies, but it could also decrease the contrast sensitivity at some other spatial frequencies.

CONCLUSION

Yellow filter lens could be applied as a non-optical visual aid in the visual rehabilitation of the blind and low vision patients induced by these three diseases, as the above results show contrast sensitivity improvement in the low spatial frequency and the peak of the contrast sensitivity curves.