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Slow photostress recovery and disease severity in age-related macular degeneration
1Berman-Gund Laboratory for the Study of Retinal Degenerations, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Boston 02114, USA.
Purpose:
To determine whether photostress recovery time varies with severity of disease in age-related macular degeneration.
Methods:
Photostress recovery time, visual acuity, and foveal retinal pigment epithelial atrophy were evaluated for the fellow eyes of 133 patients with unilateral neovascular age-related macular degeneration. Recovery times were measured by a method that flashed letters on a computer screen in random order before and after a 10 second bleach.
Results:
Recovery times were delayed in 62% of the patients (including 47% of those with normal visual acuity), ranged up to 6 times the normal limit, and increased with advancing age (P < 0.0001). Photostress recovery time was inversely correlated with visual acuity (P < 0.0001) and longer in eyes with visible atrophy than in eyes without atrophy (P = 0.0007). Significant relationships between these two pairs of measures were also found after controlling for age.
Conclusion:
These findings support previous evidence that the time for visual recovery after exposure to a glare source is commonly slowed in age-related macular degeneration even among patients with normal visual acuity and further show that it can vary with age and extent of disease.