Instruments for predicting visual acuity. A clinical comparison.

A series of 54 eyes in 50 patients had preoperative predictions of postoperative visual acuity, using both a white-light interferometer (Lotmar Visometer) and a Snellen chart projector (Guyton-Minkowski Potential Acuity Meter). The predicted vision by each instrument was compared with the actual postoperative vision. Forty eyes in 36 of these patients, 25 with concurrent eye disease, had cataract extraction with intraocular lens implantation. Fifteen eyes in 15 patients, 11 with concurrent eye disease, had neodymium-YAG laser posterior capsulotomy. The Visometer gave more accurate predictions than the Potential Acuity Meter in cataract patients with open angle glaucoma, even with glaucomatous visual field loss, and in patients with a visual acuity of less than 20/400 due to advanced cataract formation.