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The effect of filters and varying illumination on contrast sensitivity in eyes with moderate to severe visual impairment

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Abstract

Purpose

To investigate the effect of filters and illumination on contrast sensitivity in persons with cataract, pseudophakia, maculopathy and glaucoma to provide a guide for eye care providers in low vision rehabilitation.

Materials and methods

A within-subjects experimental design with a counter-balanced presentation technique was employed in this study. The contrast sensitivity of eyes with cataract, pseudophakia, maculopathy and glaucoma was measured with filters (no filter, yellow, pink and orange) combined with increasing illumination levels (100 lx, 300 lx, 700 lx and 1000 lx) using the SpotChecks™ contrast sensitivity chart. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and two-way repeated measures ANOVA.

Results

The yellow filter at 100 lx significantly improved contrast sensitivity in the maculopathy group. There were no significant improvements with either intervention in the rest of the groups. There was, however, a significant interaction between filters and illumination in the cataract group.

Conclusion

There were small improvements in contrast sensitivity at low illumination levels with the yellow filter in the maculopathy group, and this could be considered in clinical practice and low vision rehabilitation. Overall, filters at most illumination levels did not benefit most groups.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the staff of Bishop Ackon Memorial Christian Eye Centre for their assistance in participant recruitment.

Funding

The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Optometry and Vision Science, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana

    Carl Halladay Abraham, Enyam Morny, Asantewaa Aboagye-MacCarthy, Stephen Ocansey, Michael Ntodie, Godfred Sakyi-Badu, Albert Kofi Dadzie, Naa Adjeley Addo, Selina Holdbrook & Emmanuel Kwasi Abu

Authors
  1. Carl Halladay Abraham
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  2. Enyam Morny
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Contributions

C.H.A., E.M. and S.O. conceptualized and supervised the project, A.K.D. and M.N. analyzed the data, A.A., G.S. and N.A.A. wrote the main manuscript, and S.H. and E.A. reviewed the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Asantewaa Aboagye-MacCarthy.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Ethics approval

This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Institutional Review Board of the University of Cape Coast (14th October, 2021/UCCIRB/CHAS/2021/87).

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Abraham, C.H., Morny, E., Aboagye-MacCarthy, A. et al. The effect of filters and varying illumination on contrast sensitivity in eyes with moderate to severe visual impairment. Int Ophthalmol 43, 3329–3337 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-023-02738-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-023-02738-7

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