INSTRUMENT FOR OBJECTIVE MEAS. OF CONTRAST SENSITIVITY

THIS PROJECT WILL DEVELOP AN OPHTHALMIC INSTRUMENT THAT WILL BE USED TO OBJECTIVELY MEASURE CONTRAST SENSITIVITY LOSS IN PATIENTS DUE TO INTRAOCULAR LIGHT SCATTERING. THE INSTRUMENT WILL RECORD THE IMAGES OF BLUE, GREEN, AND RED LINE-PATTERNS FROM PATIENTS' RETINAS. COMPUTERIZED IMAGE ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES WILL BE USED TO DERIVE THE CONTRAST SENSITIVITY FUNCTION FOR EACH OF THE COLORS. BECAUSE INTRAOCULAR SCATTERING IS WAVELENGTH DEPENDENT, COMPARISONS OF THE OBJECTIVELY DETERMINED CONTRAST SENSITIVITY FUNCTIONS AMONG THE THREE WAVELENGTHS WILL REVEAL THE RELATIVE EXTENT TO WHICH ENTOPTIC SCATTERING (STRONGLY WAVELENGTH DEPENDENT) AND OCULAR REFRACTIVE ERROS (NOT STRONGLY WAVELENGTH DEPENDENT) CONTRIBUTE TO THE PATIENTS' CONTRAST SENSITIVITY FUNCTIONS. THE OBJECTIVE MEASURING INSTRUMENT WILL NOT REQUIRE PATIENTS TO RESPOND TOHOW WELL THEY PERCEIVE THE CLARITY OF TEST PATTERNS. SUCH A DEVICE SHOULD BE EXTREMELY USEFUL TO OPHTHALMOLOGISTSAND OPTOMETRISTS IN THE OBJECTIVE ASSESSMENT OF THE LOSS OF CONTRAST SENSITIVITY EXPERIENCED BY A WIDE CLASS OF PATIENTS, INCLUDING THOSE EXAMINED FOR PREOPERATIVE CATARACT, CORNEAL DISEASE, CONTACT LENS FITTING PROBLEMS, AND POSTOPERATIVE RADIAL KERATOTOMY.