Loss of contrast sensitivity following contusional eye injury

Contrast sensitivity was evaluated in 95 patients who regained a visual acuity of 6/6 following a contusional injury of one eye. The injuries occurred 2 to 12 years prior to examination. A book of printed sinusoidal grating patterns of varying contrasts and spatial frequencies was used, and 15 patients were found to have a significant difference in contrast sensitivity between injured and uninjured eye. Eight patients had abnormalities of the media or fundus, and in 2 patients amblyopia was probably a factor. Five patients had a defect in contrast sensitivity in their injured eye, although no structural abnormalities could be detected on full clinical examination. Alterations in contrast sensitivity appeared to be a sensitive indicator of functional abnormality in eyes which appeared normal on ophthalmoscopy and other clinical investigations.