| Abstract | BACKGROUND: INTRODUCTION: Inherited color vision deficiency affects approximately 8% of the male population, and significant numbers of patients of both genders acquire color vision loss due to ocular disease or pharmaceutical medications. Yet in many clinical settings, color vision testing presents a challenge because it can be time consuming to administer, and difficult to interpret when a problem occurs. CASE REPORT(S): METHODS: 93 healthy young adults (51 male, 42 female) were administered both the Farnsworth and Lanthony D-15 color vision tests. The tests were performed monocularly with habitual corrective lenses in place. Lighting was provided by a MacBeth Easel lamp, and the results recorded. One week later, a second investigator, masked to the results on the first two tests, repeated a computerized version of both color vision tests. The software used was the Color Vision Recorder (version 3) from Optical Diagnostics (http://www.opticaldiagnostics.com/products/cvr/). The tests were administered using a Dell desktop CRT monitor, calibrated according to the manufacturer's instructions. Results of the computerized color vision tests were compared to their traditional counterparts using the Student T-test.
RESULTS: Color vision testing showed the study population consisted of normal trichromats (n=83), anomalous trichromats (n=7), and dichromats (n=3). For the trichromats, no significant difference was found between the traditional “hardware” version of the tests and their new computerized equivalents (p=0.05). CONCLUSIONS: CONCLUSIONS: When testing both normal and anomalous trichromats, the Color Vision Recorder software demonstrated accuracy in assessing color vision deficiency which was statistically the same (p=0.05) as the traditional Farnsworth and Lanthony D-15 "cap" tests. In addition, there were advantages to administering the Color Vision Recorder D-15 test, including shorter time to administer, automatic recording, and more straightforward diagnosis of color vision deficiency. |
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