Normal visual acuity in 17--18 year olds

The aim of this work was to establish visual acuity norms in 17-18-year-olds.

In a previous, population-based study carried out in 1998, a total of 1046 12-13-year-old children were examined with a full eye examination. In 2003, 25% (n=262) of these children were randomly selected and invited to a re-examination; 147 subjects agreed to participate and 116 attended. The examined group did not significantly differ from the original sample in terms of the prevalence of ocular and visual disorders. Best corrected monocular visual acuity (VA) was assessed with the revised 2000 ETDRS logMAR chart.

Mean best corrected VA was -0.10 logMAR across the examined group. There was no significant difference between right and left eyes. By excluding nine subjects who had significant ametropia and/or ocular or visual pathology, mean VA increased to -0.12 logMAR (SD 0.07). The mean interocular difference in VA among normal subjects was 0.04 logMAR.

Visual acuity in teenagers is significantly better than 0.0 logMAR and the interocular difference is low in healthy eyes.