Light discomfort thresholds in patients with senile cataract versus pseudophakic subjects.

PURPOSE: To compare light discomfort thresholds in patients with senile cataract versus pseudophakic subjects.

METHODS

In this cross-sectional, multicenter, controlled study light discomfort thresholds were measured in both eyes of patients with senile cataract and in sex- and age-matched pseudophakic subjects using the Lumiz 100 device (Essilor International, Paris, France) under three different lighting conditions: continuous warm, continuous cold and flashing warm. For continuous increase, light starts at 25 lx for 5 s and increases every second by 20%; for discontinuous increases, light starts at 10 lx for 5 s followed by increases to 25 lx for half a second and then decreases back to 10 lx for 2 s, before a 44% increase from the previous flash using warm light. Age, gender, pupil diameter, self-reported light sensitivity, iris color, eyeglass use, visual acuity, lens status and cataract grade were analyzed and correlated with light discomfort thresholds.

RESULTS

A total of 48 participants (28 men, 20 women; mean age 72.92 ± 9.05 years) were included. Patients with senile cataract exhibited statistically significant lower discomfort thresholds for all measurements compared to pseudophakic subjects (respectively, 3.39 ± 0.66 log10[lux] vs. 3.81 ± 0.46 [p = 0.014] for continuous warm; 3.44 ± 0.64 vs. 3.82 ± 0.42 [p = 0.025] for continuous cold; 3.14 ± 0.59 vs. 3.81 ± 0.31 [p < 0.001] for flashing warm). Apart for lens status, no other variables influenced light discomfort thresholds.

CONCLUSION

The Lumiz 100 enabled the evaluation of light discomfort thresholds in patients with different lens status, highlighting a higher light sensitivity in patients with senile cataract compared to pseudophakic subjects under all lighting conditions.