Degradation of Visual Performance With Increasing Levels of Retinal Stray Light.

Purpose: To quantify the effect of induced stray light on halo size, luminance threshold, and contrast sensitivity.

Methods: Retinal stray light was induced in five healthy subjects using different photographic filters. The stray light induced ranged from levels observed in intraocular lenses (IOLs) with glistenings (low) to cataract level (high). The visual impact was measured for halo size, luminance detection threshold, and contrast sensitivity with and without a glare source.

Results: The amount of retinal stray light induced by the different filters was similar when measured using the psychophysical method and the optical bench method. Low amounts of induced stray light cause the halo size to increase by 21%, the luminance detection threshold to increase by 156%, and contrast sensitivity to decrease by 10% to 21% dependent on spatial frequency and presence of a glare source. The visual impact percentages for high amounts of induced stray light were, respectively, 76%, 2130%, and 30% to 49%. In the presence of a glare source, contrast sensitivity losses were larger and shifted to lower spatial frequencies.

Conclusions: Low levels of retinal stray light can cause significant increases in halo sizes, elevations in luminance detection thresholds, and reductions in contrast sensitivity whether or not a glare source is present.