GLARE AND CONTRAST SENSITIVITY BEFORE AND AFTER ND-YAG LASER CAPSULOTOMY

The benefits of Nd:YAG laser capsulotomy on visual performance were ev aluated in 13 patients with after-cataract following extracapsular cat aract extraction. Besides clinical evaluation we measured: visual acui ty, letter contrast sensitivity with and without the presence of a cir cular glare source (glare angle: 8-degrees. Finally, the patients were asked to evaluate their subjective glare problems. In all patients, v isual acuity had decreased markedly compared to measurements 2 months after cataract surgery. Before capsulotomy we observed impaired letter contrast sensitivity and increased intraocular light scatter compared to normals. Following capsulotomy, VA and contrast sensitivity both i mproved by a factor of 2. The subjective glare problems diminished, al though most patients showed minor decreases in intraocular light scatt er. The limited glare induced loss of letter contrast sensitivity, pre sent before capsulotomy, remained after treatment. Our study indicates that after-cataract impairs resolution and contrast sensitivity witho ut necessarily causing a marked increase in light scatter as measured at a large angle.