Ocular Straylight and Artificial Lenses

Disability glare has often been related to visual symptoms that appear under different light conditions. Disability glare originates from light scattering (straylight) that takes place in the eye, and is a consequence of the projection of the scattered (unwanted) light onto the retina. The unwanted light is superimposed over the retinal image and results in a loss of contrast. This is typically described by patients as looking through a fog or hazy vision, but other symptoms have also been reported, such as blinding by approaching car's headlights, decreased color discrimination and changes in light adaptation. Mostly these difficulties increase with aging of the natural eye lens and cataract formation, in which case the natural lens can be replaced by a lens implant. However, artificial lenses (implant lenses, but also contact lenses) have shown potential for increasing straylight, but it is not yet clear where the scattered light originates from (e.g. optical design, material properties). Therefore, the goal of this thesis was to study straylight (both in vivo and in vitro) to determine sources of light scattering in the artificial lenses.