The effect of straylight and iris pigmentation on the Farnsworth‐Munsell 100‐Hue Test of colour discrimination.

Margarita Zlatkova, Raymond Beirne

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that senescent lens yellowing cannot explain the age‐related increase in FM100‐hue error score. However, intraocular straylight also increases with age and significantly reduces retinal illumination, contrast and colour saturation. Intraocular straylight includes components caused by the cornea, the lens, ocular wall translucency and fundus reflectance light scattering, with the last two components being especially pronounced in blue‐eyed individuals (Coppens, Franssen and van den Berg, 2006, Experimental Eye Research 82, 688‐692). This study aims to examine if increased levels of straylight are a cause of poorer colour discrimination with increasing age on the FM 100 hue test. 21 young individuals with different amounts of iris pigmentation were assessed using the FM‐100 hue test both with and without a scattering filter, which was used to simulate an increase of intraocular straylight. Intraocular straylight, with and without the filter, was estimated using a compensation comparison method with the Oculus C‐Quant straylight meter. The scattering filter caused a significant increase (p <0.05) in the square root of the total error scores (√TES), with the increases in blue‐yellow partial error scores contributing a greater proportion of the increase in √TES than the red‐green partial error scores. This result could be attributed to the dark‐eyed participants, who had significantly poorer colour discrimination with the filter compared to participants with light irides, although the latter had more intraocular straylight without the filter. No significant correlation was found between the straylight level, as measured with the C‐Quant, and error scores on the FM 100 hue test (p > 0.05). The observed tritan‐like defect can be attributed to the effect of light attenuation due to filter absorption. This is consistent with the fact that the decreased retinal illuminance worsens colour discrimination, more markedly for that which is mediated by SWS cones.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationUnknown Host Publication
PublisherThe Colour Group (GB)
Number of pages1
Publication statusPublished (in print/issue) - 14 Jul 2013
EventThe 22nd Symposium of the International Colour Vision Society - Winchester, United Kingdom
Duration: 14 Jul 2013 → …

Conference

ConferenceThe 22nd Symposium of the International Colour Vision Society
Period14/07/13 → …

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