Double image in far peripheral vision of pseudophakic eye as source of negative dysphotopsia

J Opt Soc Am A Opt Image Sci Vis. 2014 Dec 1;31(12):2642-9. doi: 10.1364/JOSAA.31.002642.

Abstract

Some intraocular lens (IOL) patients report seeing "dark shadows" at visual angles that are larger than 60°-70°. Raytrace models of the pseudophakic eye show that light starts to miss the IOL at large visual angles because the implant diameter of about 6 mm is much smaller than the natural crystalline lens diameter of 9.5 mm. This light forms a second displaced image on the peripheral retina. To evaluate the appearance of the image, raytrace software was used to image an illuminated window onto the highly curved retina, and a method was developed to project the image back to object space for evaluation on a flat surface. Only a single schematic eye was evaluated monochromatically and the low resolution of the peripheral retina was not modeled, but the simulated images depict a shadow-like phenomenon at similar visual angles to reports of "negative dysphotopsia."

MeSH terms

  • Diplopia / complications*
  • Diplopia / physiopathology*
  • Humans
  • Pseudophakia / complications*
  • Software
  • Visual Perception*