Optics for Low Vision Enabling

Sammanfattning: For people with central visual field loss, eccentric vision is all that they have to rely on. Even for those who learn how to correctly utilize their eccentric vision, it will never be as good as the central for two entirely different reasons: the off-axis optics of the eye can result in large refractive errors, and the low function of the peripheral retina. This thesis deals with the first of these factors: how to study and correct the eccentric aberrations in people with low vision by measuring the optics of their eyes, correcting the aberrations, particularly astigmatism, and evaluating improvements in visual functions.

The individual variations are large for both astigmatism and higher order aberrations such as coma. The main results of this research show that visual improvements through eccentric corrections are possible in spite of the retina’s poor function outside of the macula.

Eccentric optical correction affects both resolution and detection capacities. A person’s visual ability can also be influenced by their awareness and training of eccentric viewing.