Blue-light filtering intraocular lens in patients with diabetes: Contrast sensitivity and chromatic discrimination

Purpose

To evaluate potential changes in contrast sensitivity and color discrimination in diabetic patients who had cataract surgery and implantation of the blue-light filtering AcrySof Natural (SN60AT) intraocular lens (IOL) compared with an ultraviolet-only filtering (AcrySof SA60AT) IOL.

Setting

Refractive Surgery Unit, Hospital NISA Valencia al Mar, Valencia, Spain.

Methods

Forty-four eyes of 22 diabetic patients were enrolled in a blue-light filtering fellow-eye control study. Patients received yellow-tinted IOLs (AcrySof Natural) in 1 eye and non–yellow-tinted IOLs (AcrySof SA60AT) in the fellow eye. Three months after surgery, monocular contrast sensitivity function was measured with the CSV 1000-E contrast sensitivity chart at distance and color discrimination was tested with the Farnsworth-Munsell 100-hue test.

Results

Eyes implanted with the blue-light filtering IOLs showed better contrast sensitivity values than fellow eyes implanted with non–yellow-tinted IOLs (P<.05). The blue-light filtering IOL did not modify chromatic discrimination compared with the non–yellow-tinted IOL (P = .62). In the blue–yellow axis discrimination study, the eyes implanted with the AcrySof Natural IOL had statistically significant better color vision (P = .008).

Conclusions

In diabetic patients, the AcrySof Natural IOL provides better contrast sensitivity than the AcrySof SA60AT. The blue-light filter of the AcrySof Natural IOL did not cause chromatic discrimination defects based on total error scores and improved color vision in the blue–yellow chromatic axis in diabetic patients.