[What do you actually see? Visual impairments and their simulation for well-seeing subjects]

Most physicians know little about how persons with limited vision perceive something. Sometimes, simple technical aids can make it possible to get an idea as to what a visual disorder means to the person involved. Examples of this are the wearing of glasses of varying positive power and light transmittance, or the study of case histories, paintings and photographic simulations. Among the latter are a woman who painted what she 'saw' with her removed eye, an anophthalmic man who painted from memory, and the painting of a protanopic artist who chose colours by reading the labels on the paint tubes. Thus one may gain insight in disturbances such as phantom images, diminished visual acuity and visual field loss, metamorphopsia, diplopia, dazzling, and visual agnosia. And also in disturbed image fusion, in depth and stereoscopic vision, dark adaptation and colour vision, as well as diminishing visual functions at high age. This article contains colour illustrations that simulate the disturbances.