Change in retinal image contrast with age in eyes with transparent lenses

To compare and evaluate changes in the retinal image with age in Japanese adults with transparent crystalline lenses.

Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan.

Cross-sectional study.

The study comprised right eyes with corrected distance visual acuity better than 0.0 logMAR. A point-spread function analyzer (PSF-1000) was used to measure retinal image contrast with 3.0 mm pupils under maximum mydriasis. A wavefront analyzer (KR9000PW) was used to measure higher-order aberrations (HOAs) with 4.0 mm pupils. The lens transparency property was estimated by the backward light-scattering intensity of each layer of the lens and the optical distance (mm) photographed by an anterior segment analysis system (EAS-1000). The Pearson product-moment correlation (R(2)) was used for statistical analysis; the significance level was 5%.

The study comprised 269 patients (mean age 39.7 years ± 7.7 [SD]). The retinal image contrast degenerated significantly with age; the largest difference was seen with the 0.423 logMAR optotype, for which the decrease was 5.4% every decade. Backward light-scattering intensity (R(2) = 0.030, P<.01) and HOAs (R(2) = 0.032, P<.01) correlated negatively with retinal image contrast.

Retinal image contrast in eyes with transparent lenses degenerated with age. The decrease was most prominent at the middle frequency domain and was due to the increase in HOAs and light-scattering intensity.