Abstract
Purpose:
The intraocular scattering is a distorting effect of the retinal image. In people with retinitis pigmentosa, the resolution of the retinal image is particularly important. The halometer (Software Halo v1.0 © 2008 Universidad de Granada) can assess quantitatively the intraocular scattering. In recent years it has been shown that the implementation of blue light filters improve visual perception in persons with low vision. The aim of this study is to assess the effect of blue light filters in mesopic perception of patients with retinitis pigmentosa studing the intraocular scattering.
Methods:
Prospective observational study in mesopic conditions. The sample consisted of 26 patients with retinitis pigmentosa and visual acuity of more than 0.1. The mean age was 45 ± 11 years. After assessing symptoms and optometric visual was determined visual disturbance index (VDI) with the halometer without and with filters selective absorption of short wavelengths. The filters A and B absorbed 9% and 50% of the wavelengths between 380 and 500 nm, respectively.
Results:
Reducing the incidence of short wavelengths of light using filters selective absorbance significantly improve the VDI. The values of VDI were without filter: 0.45 ± 0.30, with filter A: 0.30 ± 0.28 and with filter B: 0.29 ± 0.27. The improvement of VDI was statistically significant being for filter A 33.33 % (p = 0.0067) and for filter B 35.56 % ( p = 0.0067).
Conclusions:
The absorbing short wavelengths filters reduce the intraocular scatter improving the mesopic visual perception of patients with retinitis pigmentosa. Those filters are a good option to improve the quality of vision in mesopic conditions.
Keywords: 584 low vision •
702 retinitis