Visual Acuity Flashcards
Visual Acuity
Ability of the eye to see fine detail
A measure of the spatial resolving capability of the visual processing system.
What factors can affect Visual Acuity?
1) Diffraction
2) Aberrations: the failure of rays to converge at one focus because of a defect in a lens or mirror
3) Photoreceptor density
4) Refractive Error
5) Illumination
6) Contrast
7) Location of object in visual field
Unaided Vision:
Determined from the size of the smallest line of letters in a visual acuity chart that can be read by a person without the use of an optical device such as: spectacles or CLs.
Habitual Vision:
Determined from the size of the smallest line of letters in the test chart that can be read by the patient with their present spectacles or contact lens correction.
Visual Acuity:
Determined from the size of the smallest line of letters in a visual acuity chart that can be read with the aid of optimal, optical correction.
What is Visual Acuity used for?
- Adequacy of spectacle lens corrections
- Key indicator of ocular health and to monitor eye health conditions
- Fitness to drive
- Entry into professional registration (RAF, Police)
What is 3 principle measures of VA?
- Unaided VA (Visions)
- Habitual VA
- Optimal VA (Visual Acuity?
When should you record Unaided VA?
- When a patient does not wear spectacles
- Has lost or broken their spectacles so you cannot measure habitual VA
- Do not wear spectacles for the distance
- When a profession requires it i.e. a report is filled out
- When a practitioner suspects that a patient does not need to wear their spectacles for the distance.
Testing Distance
Reference Value –
6m in UK equates to 20FT in USA
In tests of Distance Vision, the testing distance should be…
large enough to not stimulate accommodation.
The distance between the person’s eyes and the testing chart is set to “optical infinity” to mimic the lens focusing ability.
Letter size -
The letter size is specified not by its height, but by the distance at which the complete letter subtends 5 minutes of arc.
Letter Size Info:
360’ in a circle
60 minutes of arc in 1 degree
60 seconds of arc in 1 minute
Snellen Chart
11 lines of letters in a progression of sizes
Each line designated by the distance at which the overall height of the letter subtends 5 minutes of arc.
High contrast - black letters on white background
Non-serif letters – sans serif typography
No extending features
Overall height of the 12m letter subtends 5 minutes at 12m
Overall height of the 6m letter subtends 5 minutes at 6m
Snellen Fraction
d/D
Testing distance ‘d’ in m
/
Distance at which the letter would subtend 5 minutes of arc ‘D’
so 6/60
Explain 6/6 Vision?
The ability to read the 6m letter at a distance of 6m.
Explain 6/9 Vision?
The ability to read the 9m letter at a distance of 6m
What is 20/20?
USA metric unit
Minimum Angle of Resolution, MAR -
For VA 6/6, one of the strokes of the letter subtends 1 minute of arc at the eye.
The angle at which two points of a grating are just perceived as separate.
Its logarithmic form (logMAR) is commonly used as a metric for visual acuity.
MAR can be used to specify VA
Taking the reciprocal of the Snellen fraction.
Decimal Acuity
Calculate the decimal of the Snellen Fraction e.g. 6/36 = 0.17
Advantages of Snellen -
- Widley available
- Snellen notation is universally understood
- Can be produced in a smaller format, on a projector, and as an addition to other targets
- The lower part of the chart has a similar number of letters to other charts
- Easily reproduced
- Quick and easy to use
Disavantages of Snellen -
- The scale is not linear i.e. not equal interval between the lines
- Some letters are easier to see than others especially when small
- The task is easier if you have poorer visual acuity
- Relative legibility of letters will depend on the magnitude and axis of any uncorrected astigmatism
- Many charts fail to adhere to the recommendations and standards relating to the selection of letters
What are the task differences with Snellen?
- Most charts have only one 6/60 letter and an increasing number of letters on lower lines.
- Patients with poor Acuity are required to read less letters than those with good Acuity.
- Letters on lower lines are more crowded than those towards the top of the chart.
- Crowding increases the task difficulty.
- There is no systematic relationshop between the spacing of each letter to its width or height; therefore, the visual demand changes down the chart.
- VA measured at a distance of less than 6m cannot easily be equated to a 6m equivalent.
- Small number of large letters means that it is not useful when meausring VA in low Vision Patients.
Name Alternative Optotypes
- Numerals
- Landolt Rings
- Illiterate E or Tumbling E
What is LogMAR?
Bailey and Lovie expressed VA in terms of the logarithm of the angular limb width in minutes of arc at 6m.
Gold Standard method for assessing Visual Acuity
What is the Minimum Angle of Resolution (MAR) for the 6/6 letter?
1 minute of Arc
Express 6/12 Snellen (Metric)
in
Snellen ( Imperial )
Minutes of Arc
MAR
LogMAR
Decimal
20/40
6/12
2 minutes Arc
=
log 2 = 0.3
=
0.50
6/12 letter subtends 5 minutes of arc, which equates to a MAR of 2 minutes of Arc and a logMAR of 0.3.
The LogMAR Acuity Chart overcomes many of the shortcomings of the Snellen Chart, specify..
5 letters on each line
This ensures that the task is equivalent for each row and helps to ensure equal contour interaction.
Spacing between each letter and each row is related to the width and height of the letters respectively
Constant progression of letter sizes ratio 10√10 VA is logarithm of the angular limb width of smallest letters recognised at 6m
Logarithmic Progression in 0.1 LogMAR intervals so equal scale.
After LogMAR 0 there are 3 lines of smaller size, having negative LogMAR values (-0.1, -0.2 and -0.3) – the angular sub tense is less than 1 minute of arc
The MAR is taken as the stroke width of the letters, which is 1/5th of their vertical angular subtense.
Provides more letters for patients with poor VA.
What is LogMAR an acronym for?
Log10 of the Minimum Angle of Resolution
What are the Illumination standards that charts have to adhere to?
Test charts illuminated at a level where Acuity does not alter greatly with change in illumination.
To avoid glare, surrounding illumination should be at a similar level.
Room lights on.
VA affected by poor contrast and poor illumination.
Contrast on charts should be a minimum of 90%
International standard ISO 8596 – standard test type, Landolt C in a logMar progression
Full illumination in the room (chart luminance between 80 to 320 cd/m2)
What is the prodecure for testing Visual Acuity?
1) Ensure the chart is at the appropriate distance and is calibrated correctly.
2) Leave room lights on
3) Full illumination in the room (chart luminance between 80 to 320 cd/m2)
4) Seat the patient comfortably with an unobstructed view of the test chart.
5) Sit in front (and off to the side) of the patient in order to monitor facial expressions and reactions.
6) If you are going to measure both vision and habitual VA, measure vision first to avoid memorisation.
7) Measure the VA of the poorer eye first.
8) Occlude left eye with occluder (measure RE VA first).
9) Explain what measurement you are about to take. This can be as simple as “Now we shall find out what you can see in the distance.”
10) Instruct patient:
“Please read the smallest line of letters that you can see on the chart.”
11) Note down value and swap occluder
What should you do when testing VAs?
Monitor patients facial expressions.
Encourage patient to read a little more.
What should you NOT do when testing VAs?
Do not get patient to use their hand to cover their eye.
Do not allow the patient to peep around the occluder.
Do not allow your patient to screw up their eye or squint as this can invalidate results.
What to do if a patient cannot read any letters on the chart at 6m:
1) If less than 6/60, record at 3m.
If less than 3/60, record at 1m
Get the patient to move 1m nearer to the chart, then even closer if letters are still not visible.
2) Count Fingers held at some specified distance.
3) If less than 1/60, record
Hand movements (HM):
Move a hand at measured distance (record distance)
4) Light Projection (Lproj):
Pen light is held at 50cm away from 8 different directions.
Ask the patient to report the direction of light and record the areas of the visual field that a patient has light perception.
5) Light Perception (LP):
- If the pen light is perceived, but not the direction, note down LP.
- If the light is not perceived, then note down NLP.
Define a minute of Arc:
A unit of angular measurement equal to 1 degree.
Since one degree is of a turn, one minute of arc is of a turn.
Measurement System
UK - Metric System
USA - Imperial System
Name some Other types of Acuity:
- Vernier Acuity
- Stereo Acuity
- Children’s Visual Acuity Charts
How would you convert Distance -
Snellen Notation to Decimal Notation?
d / D
Exemplar –
Snellen
6 / 12
=
Decimal
0.5
How would you convert Distance -
Decimal Notation to Snellen Fraction?
d / Decimal Acuity
d = Testing Distance
Exemplar –
Decimal
0.5
= 6 ÷ 0.5 = 12
Snellen = 6/12
How would you convert Distance -
Snellen Notation to LogMAR Notation?
LogMAR = Log10 (12/6)
Log10 (D ÷ d)
If Snellen = 6/12
0.30log units
Recording LogMAR -
Each individual letter is assigned a score value of 0.02log units.
5 letters per line
Total score for a line on the LogMAR chart represents a change of 0.1 log units
How to Calculate LogMAR?
lowest line completed correctly - (number of letters read on line below x 0.02)
Adjusting LogMAR for different distances:
Conversion factor for testing distance that is not 6m
New d = Log10(6/d)
Adjusting Snellen for different distances:
d / D x New distance
Why can children be difficult to measure Visual Acuity on:
1) They might be unable to recognise letters
2) They might be unable to verbalise what they see
3) They might lack concentration
4) They might dislike occluding of one eye
Why choose Kay Picture Test to assess distance Visual Acuity?
For young children who are unfamiliar to letters -
Ages 2 1/2 to 5yrs
What does Kays Pictures consist of?
Optotypes/Shapes which are considered to be easily recognisable by this age group.
Recognition booklet provided to help determine how child interprets shapes and to encourage familiarisation.