Intraindividual comparison of color contrast sensitivity in patients with clear and blue-light-filtering intraocular lenses

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effect of blue-light-filtering intraocular lenses (IOLs) with a yellow chromophore on color contrast sensitivity by intraindividual comparison with an identically designed IOL without a blue-light filter. SETTING: Medical University of Vienna, Department of Ophthalmology, Vienna, Austria. METHODS: Randomized implantation of an AF-1 (UV) IOL (Hoya) in 1 eye and an AF-1 (UY) IOL (Hoya) in the contralateral eye was performed after phacoemulsification and primary posterior curvilinear capsulorhexis. Three months postoperatively, the best distance-corrected visual acuity was evaluated. Before color contrast sensitivity testing, a heterochromatic flicker test was performed in both eyes to avoid error in brightness matching. Central and peripheral tritan color contrast sensitivities were evaluated using the Moorfields Vision System (CH Electronics). RESULTS: Visual acuity did not differ significantly between the 2 IOL groups (P>.05). The central color contrast sensitivity threshold also did not differ significantly between eyes with a clear IOL and eyes with a yellow IOL at any tested spatial frequency. The peripheral color contrast sensitivity test showed slightly higher color contrast sensitivity thresholds in eyes with a yellow IOL, although the differences were not statistically significant. Two patients independently reported subjective changes in color perception in the eye with the yellow IOL. CONCLUSION: In this intraindividual comparison, the implantation of a blue-light-filtering IOL did not lead to a clinically significant change in color contrast sensitivity.