Case report of the evidence of a spontaneous Reverse Pulfrich effect in monovision after cataract surgery

Cataracts affect the optics of the eye in terms of absorption, blur, and scattering. When cataracts are unilateral, they cause differences between the eyes that can produce visual discomfort and harm binocular vision. These interocular differences can also induce differences in the processing speed of the eyes that may cause a spontaneous Pulfrich effect, a visual illusion provoking important depth misperceptions. Interocular differences in light level, like those present in unilateral cataracts, can cause the Classic Pulfrich effect, and interocular differences in blur, like those present in monovision, a common correction for presbyopia, can cause the Reverse Pulfrich effect. The visual system may be able to adapt, or not, to the new optical condition, depending on the degree of the cataract and the magnitude of the monovision correction.

Here, we report a unique case of a 45-year-old patient that underwent unilateral cataract surgery resulting in a monovision correction of 2.5 diopters (D): left eye emmetropic after the surgery compensated with a monofocal intraocular lens and right eye myopic with a spherical equivalent of -2.50 D. This patient suffered severe symptoms in binocular vision, which can be explained by a spontaneous Pulfrich effect (a delay measured of 4.82 ms, that could be eliminated with a 0.19 optical density filter). After removing the monovision with clear lens extraction in the second eye, symptoms disappeared. We demonstrate that, at least in this patient, both Classic and Reverse Pulfrich effects coexist after unilateral cataract surgery and that can be readapted by reverting the interocular differences. Besides, we report that the adaptation/readaptation process to the Reverse Pulfrich effect happens in a timeframe of weeks, as opposed to the Classic Pulfrich effect, known to have timeframes of days. Additionally, we used the illusion measured in the laboratory to quantify the relevance of the spontaneous Pulfrich effect in different visual scenarios and tasks, using geometrical models and optic flow algorithms.

Measuring the different versions of the Pulfrich effect might help to understand the visual discomfort reported by many patients after cataract surgery or with monovision and could guide compensation or intervention strategies.