Spatiotemporal visual function in tinted lens wearers.
OBJECTIVE
Tinted lenses have been widely publicized as a successful new treatment for reading disorders and visual stress in children. The present study was designed to investigate a variety of visual deficits reported by children who experience high levels of visual stress and perceptual distortions when reading (Meares-Irlen syndrome; MIS) and to assess the improvements in visual comfort they report when tinted lenses are worn.


METHODS
Twenty children (13.1 +/- 0.9 years of age) were recruited who had successfully worn tinted lenses for at least 6 months and were compared with an age-matched control group (12.6 +/- 2.2 years of age) of 21 children who were not lens wearers. A range of psychophysical tasks was adapted to identify specific anomalous visual perceptions. Spatiotemporal contrast sensitivity and contrast increment thresholds were used to investigate subjective reports of dazzle and hypercontrast, and a minimum motion perception (D(min)) and a motion-coherence task were used to assess subjective reports of visual instability and motion.


RESULTS
In all viewing conditions (with versus without lens), no selective functional visual loss was demonstrated with any of the tasks used. Psychometric functions also revealed no significant difference between subject groups (control versus MIS).


CONCLUSIONS
Under thorough psychophysical investigation, these results revealed no significant difference in visual function between subject group, and this finding is consistent with the absence of any effect of the tinted lenses in the group with MIS.
Imperial College School of Medicine, Department of Academic Ophthalmology, The Western Eye Hospital, 171 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5 YE, UK. a.simmers@ic.ac.uk
A J
AJ
Simmers
P J
PJ
Bex
F K
FK
Smith
A J
AJ
Wilkins
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D015350:Contrast Sensitivity / Q000502:physiology*; D004410:Dyslexia / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D005139:Eyeglasses; D006801:Humans; D009039:Motion Perception; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy; D014792:Visual Acuity