title: Can the red-green duochrome test be used prior to correcting the refractive cylinder component?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A primary task of the eye care professional is determining the refraction, or optical correction, of a patient. The duochrome red-green test is a standard tool for verification of the final refraction. Traditionally, it is recommended for use both prior to and subsequent to determining the cylindrical or astigmatic component of the refraction. In order for it to be effective when used before correcting the cylinder it is necessary that the COLC (Circle of Least Confusion) be on the retina. This study examined whether it is necessarily true that the duochrome response in uncorrected astigmatism will be as trust-worthy as it is with corrected cylinders.
  
  
  METHODS
  The red-green examination was performed monocularly under the following three conditions: a. fully corrected refraction for the subgroup of eyes that had spherical refractions and for the subgroup of eyes with sphero-cylindrical refractions. b. best sphere-only correction without cylinder correction in sphero-cylindrical eyes c. an induced cylinder error in spherical eyes. The interval between the last "red" response and the first "green" response for the right eyes as a group and separately for the physiological cylinder and induced cylinder correction sub-groups was calculated and compared using a paired, two-tailed t-test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The intervals between "red" and "green" responses were not significantly different in the population as a whole and in the uncorrected physiological cylinder and induced cylinder subgroups examined.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Based on the finding that the interval of red-green equality with fully corrected cylinder and without the cylindrical correction are not significantly different, the red-green duochrome test can indeed be used both before and after cylindrical correction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Optometry and Vision Science, Hadassah Academic College, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: Liat
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gantz
authors.affiliation: Department of Optometry, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.
authors.forename: Shlomo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schrader
authors.affiliation: The Leslie and Susan Gonda (Goldschmied) Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel; Brooklyn College, City University of New York, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Ruthie
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ruben
authors.affiliation: The Leslie and Susan Gonda (Goldschmied) Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.
authors.forename: Ari Z
authors.initials: AZ
authors.lastname: Zivotofsky
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001251:Astigmatism / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D003119:Color Perception Tests / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012029:Refraction, Ocular / Q000502:physiology; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014792:Visual Acuity