Abstract
Purpose :
The utilization of any vision aid or intraocular implant influences the color perception due to its specific transmittance spectrum. A direct visualization of this influence has never been studied, but would be highly desirable for better patient’s vision care. To our knowledge, no value for color distortion is defined making a direct comparison much more difficult. In this study we characterized several vision aids as well as implants and applied our proprietary algorithm for visualization of the influence on color stimulus on the retina for different optical devices.
Methods :
The transmittance of glasses, contact and intraocular lenses in the visible wavelength range (390 nm – 780 nm) was experimentally determined. In combination with an assignment between RGB values (red, green, blue) and a light spectrum together with a dedicated software algorithm we are able to visualize the influence of the transmittance curves for different vision aids. A quantitative color error for red, green and blue is simultaneously calculated for better comparison. Equal color error values for red, green and blue indicate a light absorption without color change while different values imply a change.
Results :
Our measurements show that all devices lead to different color stimuli on the retina. The RGB errors for gray sunglasses (R 34%, G 31%, B 36%) are almost equal leading to a normal color stimulus with reduced brightness. Contact and intraocular lenses show material specific color errors. We were also able to distinguish between hydrophobic and hydrophilic material using this algorithm. The largest change in retinal color stimulus was found in hydrophobic IOLs with blue light filter (R 3%, G 4%, B 44%).
Conclusions :
The developed technique provides an approach for determining optical filter specific transmittance behavior and subsequently its influence on the retinal color stimulus. Moreover, the calculated color error gives a quantitative value for direct comparison between different optical devices for example in an appropriate datasheet. Major differences were found, especially for blue light filter materials. However, even though it is possible to calculate the color stimulus on the retina with our algorithm, the color perception, meaning the neuronal interpretation, cannot be addressed using this technique.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.