New standards procedures for measuring visual acuity

Portions of the Committee on Vision Working Group 39 report relevant to optometry practice are reproduced here along with supplementary comments. The report presents standards for test conditions, procedures, and criteria that will enable different examiners to obtain the same results when measuring visual acuity. The Landolt C ring is recommended as the primary standard optotype; other optotypes may be used if they are shown to yield comparable results. Adoption of metric measurements is suggested for both distance and near acuity.