Purpose:
To investigate the effects of wearing yellow progressive-power lenses (PPLs) on photopic and mesopic visual function, and self-reported visual difficulties in daily activities in subjects with age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Methods:
Nine subjects with non-exudative AMD (18 eyes) wore clear and commercially available yellow tinted organic (lumior 1 or 2, Essilor) PPLs with their best spectacle correction, each for 7 days in random order. Visual acuity, contrast sensitivity and glare were measured monocularly for each lens. Visual acuity was measured using high-contrast (96%) and low contrast (5%) logMAR letter charts under bright (photopic) and dim (mesopic) conditions. Contrast sensitivity was determined with the Pelli-Robson letter chart under photopic conditions and glare sensitivity was measured using the Brightness Acuity Tester (BAT). In adition, after each of the 7 days of lens wear, the Activities of Daily Vision Scale (ADVS) was used to assess self-reported visual difficulties in performing every-day tasks expressed on a scale of 0 (extreme difficulty) to 100 (no difficulty). Measures of central tendency (medians), and dispersion (25th and 75th percentiles) were used to describe the results obtained with each lens.
Results:
Under photopic conditions, the yellow PPLs significantly improved high-contrast visual acuities for near and far distance and contrast sensitivities (Table 1), yet no significant effects were observed on contrast sensitivity with glare as measured with the BAT. The ADVS glare subscale score was nevertheless significantly higher for the yellow PPLs (67.63 (50/75) compared to the clear (83.25 (81.25/87.50). Table 1. Visual acuity (VA), contrast sensitivity and glare values recorded using clear versus yellow progressive-power lenses (PPLs). * p<0.05 **p<0.01
Conclusions:
Yellow progressive-power lenses improved visual performance under photopic conditions in patients with age-related macular degeneration.
Keywords: age-related macular degeneration • visual acuity • contrast sensitivity