Lens autofluorescence in healthy individuals.

We measured blue-green autofluorescence (AF, 495 nm/520 nm) of the lens in 43 random eyes of 43 healthy volunteers aged 6-86 years, five in each decade, using an instrument designed by one of us (HN). The instrument generates an autofluorescence profile, which consists of anterior and posterior juxtacortical peaks and a central plateau. The height of the anterior peak was taken as a maximum autofluorescence value and the square root of the ratio between the posterior and the anterior peak was used as a lens transmission index. The coefficient of variation for the measurement technique was 3.9% for maximum autofluorescence and 2.9% for lens transmission index. Both the maximum autofluorescence and the transmission index were highly correlated with age. Statistically over 90% of the variation in maximum autofluorescence values and almost 70% of the variation in transmission could be attributed to age.