Abstract

The technique of retinal densitometry makes profitable use of the fact that visual pigments bleach under the influence of light. By comparing the amount of light reflected by the fundus in fully bleached and fully dark-adapted states, the spectral density and kinetics of visual pigments can be assessed in vivo. Since the 1950s the retinal densitometer has evolved from a room-filling apparatus to a handsome box the size of a fundus camera. The latest version from our laboratory scans at 20 wavelengths and is controlled from a microcomputer.

© 1990 Optical Society of America