BOT section clinical and theory Flashcards
as measuring unaided VA in patients who wear glasses is optional, in what cases should it be measured?
in patients who
-have lost/ broken their spectacles
-dont wear spectacles for some distance viewing tasks
-need the info for a report
-wear their spectacles all the time for distance and yet you suspect they may not need to
how is LogMAR superior to the snellen chart?
-results from LogMAR charts have shown to be twice as repeatable as snellen chart
-results from logMAR have been shown to be over 3x more sensitive to interocular differences in VA
How can the letters on a snellen and logmar chart be measured?
-each gap in the letter is 1min arc and hence the whole letter is 5min arc high
What are the advantages of the cover test?
-quick and easy to carry out
-objective hence no verbal response is required: good for babies, people with speech difficulties
-minimal cooperation is required
-gives an idea of the presence of amblyopia/ poor vision
what are the disadvantages of the cover test?
-poor fixation may make results inaccurate
-small deviations may not be recognised
-difficult to see strabismus if associated with nystagmus
-corneal reflections may not give an accurate guide to the size of deviation
what is the patient’s MAR? what is it equal to
the smallest line they can read on the letter chart
MAR = y/x where y is the line red and x is the distance from the chart hence inverse of the snellen fraction
what are the advantages of the snellen chart?
-commonly used and portable
what are the disadvantages of the Snellen chart?
-different number of letters on each line hence recording and crowding issues
-unequal size progression per line
-only half as repeatable as LogMAR
-a third less sensitive to interocular differences in vision
what are the advantages of LogMAR chart?
-same number of letters on each line
-even line spacing and crowding
-standardised recording
what are the disadvantages to LogMAR?
-it’s big
why is it important to get VAs in normal lighting
because in the dark, the pupil constricts and so vision becomes better than expected
what is the purpose of near vision testing?
to measure function instead of the minimum size the patient can see
How does a near vision chart use a point system?
each point is equal to a letter of size 0.35mm
what are the limitations to measuring VA?
-unnatural conditions
-measures central vision only
-contrast sensitivity is not measured
-not measured at infinity, at 6m, vergence of light is -0.167D
what are the 5 types of astigamtism?
-simple myopic
-compound myopic
-simpe hyperopic
-compound hyperopic
-mixed
how can you control accomodation in ret?
-use the longest WD possible
-WD lens
-use a non accommodative target such as the green light on the duochrome
how can you deal with small pupils in ret?
-move closer
-dim the light slightly
-use tropicamide to dilate
What is habitual VA?
this is the ‘presenting’ or ‘walk in’ vision with the patient’s own glasses if they wear them or no glasses if they don’t wear them
how do you find the LogMAR equivalent of the snellen fraction?
so you fist have to find the MAR which is the inverse fraction of the snellen e.g. MAR of 6/3 is 0.5 and then do Log(MAR) e.g. Log(0.5) on the calculator
what is VAR =? (visual acuity rating)
VAR = 100 - 50 logMAR
what do VAsc or Vsc mean
visual acuity measured without a correction
what does VAcc mean?
visual acuity measured with a correction
what does PHNI mean?
pin hole provided no improvement
how is with and against movement affected by WD in ret?
-the closer the WD becomes, the more with movement
-the further the WD, the more against movement
how do you calculate the WD lens?
1/ distance (m)
in a presbyopic patient when doing ret, how can you make sure the patient will not accommodate?
by quickly scoping the left eye so that if with movement is observed you add positive lenses until against movement is obtained
in ret when correcting astigmatism, what should you be using to set your cyl?
the orientation of the streak of the least plus/ most minus meridian
in ret, how can you cope with a dim reflex in older patients?
-perform ret at a closer distance such as 25cm or 33cm for a brighter reflex
-use the least number of lenses in the trial frame
-use the large aperture sight hole where avaliable
What are the components that contribute to the amplitude of accommodation when measuring monocularly?
reflex + tonic + proximal
What is the goal to make patients more comfortable with subjective refraction?
to give patients as few decisions as possible as patients worry they’ll give wrong answers or get frustrated by the limited difference in the options given
why do you use duochrome before JCC if there is a cyl?
to make sure the circle of least confusion is on the retina
after you finish subjective refraction, you compare your patients new VA with age matched normal data. what should you do if the VA is worse than expected or worse in one eye compared to the other?
re-measure the VA with a pinhole aperture. If the VA does not improve with the ph then either subjective refraction is not as good as possible and needs to be redone or the patient has some kind of media opacity most likely being in the lens being cataract
what could a subjective refraction result that is significantly less positive than the ret result indicate?
latent hyperopia or pseudomyopia so cycloplegic refraction may be needed
in best vision sphere, when adding the initial +0.25 what should you do:
if it blurs?
if it remains the same or improves?
-dont add
-add
in best vision sphere, how should you exchange the lenses in a young hyperope? why is this?
-keep the current plus lens in until you’ve inserted the new one at which point you can take the old one out
-this is because accommodation can be stimulated and hence makes the results inaccurate
in best vision sphere, when do you reach your end point in a hyperope?
at the most plus/ least minus lens that does not blur the VA
in best vision sphere when adding a -0.25 lens after the intial -0.25, what should you do if the the patient reports:
no change?
worsening vision?
-dont add
-dont add
what does it mean if in the +1.00 blur test, the VA doesnt get blurred by 2-4 lines?
the patient may have been over minused/ under plussed
what is the MPMVA best vision sphere test designed to do?
take advantage of a patient’s depth of focus to provide the maximum range of clear vision
why can older patients be easily overplussed and what can indicate that they have been overplussed?
they can be easily overplussed because they have a larger depth of focus due to them having smaller pupils
this can be indicated when the measured addition in best vision sphere is lower than expected
what is a drawback to the best vision sphere MPMVA technique?
-patients end up being slightly over plussed by 0.16D as the distance VA chart is at 6m and not at infinity
what principle does the duochrome test rely on?
the principle of axial aberration where light of shorter wavelength is refracted more by the eye’s optics
in duochrome, what will an eye that is slightly overplussed see?
the target on the red filter will look more clear so add more minus
in duochrome, what will an eye that is slightly overminussed see?
the target on the green filter will look more clear so add more plus
in a hyperopic eye in duochrome, which colour looks clearer and why
the green because the green is closer to the retina than the red
In ret, what should you get the patient to focus on? why is this?
the red and target on the duochrome, this is to control accommodation.
how does duochrome work?
-the purple side of the visible light spectrum gets refracted more than the red because it has a longer wavelength
-this means that the red gets refracted less because of its shorter wavelength
-the purple side falls in front of the retina and the red falls behind the retina
-in an emmetropic eye on the duochrome, the green is in front of the retina the same distance away that the red is behind the retina
-this means the clarity of the targets on the duochrome are the same
-in a myopic eye, because the eye ball is longer, the red will appear clearer as the red wavelegths get refracted more than the green and so are closer to the retina and so more minus should be added to make them equal
-in a hyperopic eye, because the eyeball is shorter, the green wavelengths get refracted less and so the green is closer to the retina than the red hence the green looks clearer so more plus needs to be added to make them equal
what are the limitations to duochrome?
-the round targets are usually constructed of ring thickness equivalent to 6/9 (inner) and 6/12 (outer) snellen equivalent taregts and so it will not work if the vision is >6/12
-difference in focal position due to chromatic aberration is 0.5DS so wont work if prescription is significantly incorrect
-small pupil will reduce the size of the blur circles causing the difference in clarity between the red and the green to be reduced
how would you adapt duochrome for patients with red green colour blindness?
just refer to the chart as ‘top and bottom targets’ instead of ‘red and green’
what is the interval of sturm?
the distance between the focal lines produced when light enters an uncorrected astigmatic eye
What is the blur circle?
the point of overall focus that is formed on the retina of an astigmatic eye from the focal lines of light entering an eye as each of the meridians form their own focal point
what is the circle of least confusion?
its the point between the two focal points formed in an astigmatic eye where the blur circle is the smallest
when is astigmatism visually insignificant?
when the circle of least confusion is small enough to see small letters clearly
when is the circle of least confusion smallest?
when the interval of Sturm is the smallest
what needs to happen before you can correct astigmatism with cross cyl?
you need to do duochrome to make sure the blur circle is on the retina
what is simple hyperopic astigmatism?
where one of the focal points us on the retina and the other is behind it
what is simple myopic astigmatism?
Where one of the focal points are on the retina and the other one is in front of it
what is compound hyperopic astigmatism?
where both the focal points are behind the retina
what is simple myopic astigmatism?
Where both the focal points are in front of the retina
what is mixed astigmatism?
where one of the focal points is in front of the retina and the other one is behind the retina
how could you do JCC on a patient with vision that is 6/12 or worse compared to a patient that’s 6/9 or better?
-use the 0.50DC cross cyl instead of the 0.25DC.
-use a larger target until the vision improves such as a larger circular letter
how do you adjust the sphere based on the cyl in JCC? why adjust?
-for each -0.5D0C change, add +0.25DS
-for each +0.50DC change, add -0.25DS
to make sure the circle of least confusion stays on the retina
why should you check the sphere for the last time after doing cross cyl?
becuase the patient is most likely still accommodating so we need to relax the accommodation by pushing the plus monocularly
how do you work out the prescription from snellen VAs?
-by doing 0.25DS for sphere
-by doing 0.50DC for cyl
per line of vision
what problems does an over misused prescription cause?
-headaches and tired eyes
-some studies have shown this may cause the potential to induce myopia
This is due to the patient having to accommodate to see clearly even in distance
what kind of patients are most vulnerable to being overplussed?
patients with smaller pupils so mainly elderly patients
what is the stage of refraction where you could probably overplus a patient?
in x cyl as the cyl findings are probably wrong. You know they were over-plussed in cyl if you find more minus is needed in the final stages
why do media opacities make it easy to be overplussed?
because they create problems detecting 0.25DS changes
why is binocular balancing used in refraction?
-to equalise both vision and accommodative demand
-to check sphere under binocular conditions as monocular conditions could mean over minussing as occlusion can stimulate accommodation
what do you do if you find your binocular balance is unequal?
-cyl is probably incorrect if sphere was incorrect
-so recheck sphere and then re check cyl
what are the limitations to binocular balance?
-it will not work if the unfogged is worse than 6/12
-its less likely to work if one eye is heavily dominant
when should you not use binocular balance?
-when the patient has strabismus
-when the patient is ablyopic or has another cause for significant visual reduction
-uneven acuities of more than one snellen line
when should you be wary of binocular balancing?
-in patients with compromised binocularity e.g. evidence of a poorly compensated phoria
-anismetropia
when does BVD need to be taken into account?
in patients with a prescription of more than +-5.00DS, and so if this is the case you need to measure it and record it at the end of the refraction routine
In duochrome, what does it mean if more than +-0.50DS is needed to balance the clarity of the rings?
this means the duochrome test is unreliable and should be ignored
how do you make sure a patient is ready for JCC
-make sure the red and green are equal
-if the clarity of the rings changes from red to green, make sure you give them the lens that leaves the patient on the green
give 2 ways fan shaped tests have an advantage over JCC
-accommodation is well controlled as the patient is fogged prior to the procedure
-they do not require patients to memorise two pictures presented sequentially and compare them
what do you need to rely on to measure astigmatism in patients where where subjective assessment is poor/ not possible?
-ret
-autorefraction
-keratometry
what does the zero mean power of the cross cylinder ensure?
that the circle of least confusion remains on the retina for both presentations of ‘lens 1’ and ‘lens 2’
In JCC, when is the effective axis shift greater relative to power?
when the power of the correcting cylinder is lower so when making changes based on the patient response to jcc, amount of rotation should take into effect the cyl power
for each correcting cyl, when using a +-0.25 JCC, what are the recommended initial axial rotations?
0.25DC
0.50DC
0.75DC
1.00-2.00DC
2.25+DC
-30
-20
-15
-10
-15
how many JCC comparisons are most ideal in practise to limit patient difficulty
3-7
in JCC when adjusting the power and the patient reports no difference for the first time what should you do?
-do not assume you have the correct power
1. remove -0.25 from the cylinder
2. now repeat the comparison
3. stop at the lowest cylinder power for which the patient indicates their preference
when determining cyl whats wrong with the ‘nudge nudge same’ technique
-it is inefficient as it typically requires many more presentations than necessary
-it can be inaccurate as a ‘same’ response from a patient can indicate an incorrect cylinder axis
why can a patient’s same response indicate an inaccurate cyl axis in JCC?
-you may be incorrect by 90 degrees
-patients can provide unreliable responses and ‘same’ could just be an incorrect result so you can be far more confident that you’ve obtained the correct cylinder axis if you’ve bracketed it
-some patients have a range of axes over which they believe the two JCC images look the same and in this case, the axis should be placed in the middle of the range
what is the with rule astigmatism? what kind of patients is it typically found in and why?
where the vertical meridian is steeper.
mainly found in younger patients. This is because it is most likely caused by pressures in the eyelids and so this tension decreases slowly with age hence the with the rule astigmatism slowly disappears and older patients instead typically have against the rule astigmatism
what occular pathologies could cause significant changes in astigmatism over a 1-3 year period?
-keratoconus
-cortical cataract
-chalazion
when does the binocular balance of accommodation test not need to be performed?
in patients that do not have binocular vision or accommodation e.g. patients of over 60 and pseudophakes
In binocular balance tests such as polarisation balance, monocular fogging and humphriss immediate contrast test, what do they all have in common and what do they aim to determine?
they are all minimally dissociated
the spherical correction in conditions similar to the patient’s normal viewing situation so that vergence and pupil size are in their normal binocular state