Characteristics of the preferred retinal loci of better and worse seeing eyes of patients with a central scotoma.

OBJECTIVE

Patients with central vision loss develop preferred retinal loci (PRLs) in the eccentric retina. The characteristics of the PRLs for the better eye (BE) are well studied, but not those of the worse eye (WE). We examined the distribution of monocular PRLs in the visual field (VF), as well as visual acuity, fixation stability, and PRL eccentricity for the BE and WE of patients with central vision loss.

DESIGN

Retrospective consecutive case series.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 87 BE and 50 WE of patients with central vision loss.

METHODS

Visual acuity, fixation stability, PRL location, and PRL eccentricity measures were retrieved from our database. PRL location was categorized into 5 VF segments: central, superior, inferior, left, and right.

RESULTS

For BE, PRL frequency distribution was significantly different for the 5 VF segments, χ(4) = 19.9, p = 0.001. Most PRLs occurred in inferior (31%) and left (31%) VF segments. Visual acuity, fixation stability, and PRL eccentricity depended on the VF segment. Visual acuity correlated with fixation stability and PRL eccentricity. For WE, PRL frequency distribution was not different for the 5 VF segments and visual acuity was not dependent on the VF segment. No relationships between visual acuity and PRL eccentricity or fixation stability were found.

CONCLUSIONS

Different patterns of PRL characteristics were found for BEs and for WEs. These findings are important to consider when factors such as PRL eccentricity, visual acuity, fixation stability, and PRL location are used as outcome measures after treatment or rehabilitation and when monitoring disease progression.