Abstract

Developing cataracts have a variety of deleterious effects on the quality of the retinal image. The most notable of these is light scatter. Assessing the visual impact of lens opacities is somewhat problematical. Standard measures like acuity and contrast sensitivity have two drawbacks. First, the impact of the cataract may be fairly minimal (e.g. Hess, & Woo, 1978; Lasa et al., 1991). It is perfectly possible to have a significant cataract and 20/20 acuity. Second, acuity and contrast sensitivity are affected by many forms of pathology. Cataract does not create a unique pattern of losses that allow its CSF to be distinguished from, say, a CSF in a macular degeneration patient (see Davis, Sherman, Bass, & Schnider, 1991 for a discussion).

© 1992 Optical Society of America