The literature is conflicting with approximately half of the studies reporting no change in colour vision and the remainder a change. The interesting group of patients are those with a tinted implant in one eye and a plain one in the fellow eye. There is a case report of one such patient demanding the tinted implant to be explanted
I have not meet such complain in my patients after implantation of yellow tinted intra-ocular implants for UV protection.
The transmissibility of the yellow tinted IOLs is higher than the old human lens, so patients will notice after the surgery an improvement in the color perception anyway. On the other hand, if we test the color perception in the blue zone with the adequate test, such as the Farmsworth 100?, we may find differences when comparing yellow and "transparent" filters. The most used color perception tests are designed to detect anomalies in the red-green zone (such many versions of Isihara) and in this zone of the color spectrum both lenses should be similar.
Clarification, all IOLs present UV protection, yellow-tinted IOLs present an additional "protection" for the blue light.
Im not a clinician but yes, some of my clinician collaobrators reported to me that their patients even with both eyes implanted with yellow IOLs did report on colour perception changes.
Especially since iol implantation was not simultaneous but sequential with a few weeks apart.
Maybe the question is: How important is the blue-color perception?
Blue light have a higher scattering in the ocular media...
@Peter and all: This is a very interesting topic. Find in attachment one of my slides from the last talk I gave on the non-visual effects of spectral light modulation. It summarizes the impact of the blue filtering IOLs on visual responses. Mainly the alteration seems to occur only under mesopic lighting conditions (compromised color vision and poor contrast sensitivity).
@ Francisco you are right blue filtering IOLs filter less blue than a cataractous lens or even a non-cataractous 60y old lens. Your last comment is very interesting in fact Blue filtering IOLs have been found to significantly reduce glare disability.
In case you are interested we have done some research on the non-visual impact of lens yellowing with age. We are looking forward to appropriately test the non-visual effects of these blue filtering IOLs.
(http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0085837)
Best
-Ray
I had a patient who was operated during the time there was a change from clear to yellow aspheric IOL. The right eye received the clear IOL and 6 weeks later, he had a cataract done in the left eye with a yellow lens. I did not tell him about the change in IOL color, and hoped that he would´t notice it, but as soon as he came to my office the next day, he told me that he was seeing differently, with a blueish tint on green color objects, like grass and trees, and asked me if the IOL was different than the first one!
Most patients dont notice any diference between eyes regarding color vision also if they have a yellow tinted IOL in one and a normal UV filtering IOL in the other eye according to the first published research in this topic by
Wirtitsch MG, Schmidinger G, Prskavec M, Rubey M, Skorpik F, Heinze G, Findl O, Karnik N.Influence of blue-light-filtering intraocular lenses on color perception and contrast acuity.Ophthalmology. 2009 Jan;116(1):39-45.
which was than followed by many more.
In my experience they usually don't complain unless they have a clear IOL in the other eye.
This is not my experience. I have a series of 7 patients who were implanted, for one or another reason, in one eye with a yellow filter IOL and the other with an IOL without the yellow filter. Only one patient noted a slight difference in tone between the two eyes and that was not bothering him.
i have personal experience the yellow filter IOL improve the quality of color vision
The quality of color perception is not affected by the yellow tinted IOLs presently on the market.
I appreciate the various comments but my query was relating to a disparity in colour vision between the eyes when one eye had had a tinted lens implanted and the other a clear one
2 patients in 8 years have complained of color disparity in our practice. We exchanged one and the other adapted. They both disliked the yellow lens.
I am answering this as a patient as I have no medical qualifications whatsoever, thus it's an experiential report. I recently acquired a clear implant, vs the other one, implanted two years ago, which was yellowish. I believe both have a UV filter, but the tinting is different: that can clearly be seen by shutting each eye in quick succession and comparing. When both eyes are used, I see something in between: the difference does not bother me in terms of everyday vision, but I do prefer the yellow tint (warmer) in terms of perception. I am very happy with the results so far, but had I been given a choice of 'coloring' I would probably have chosen tinted in both eyes, provided there were no medical disadvantages. I also prefer warm lights in general (say inside the home etc.), but I know people who prefer cold lights - perhaps they would prefer non-tinted implants. Still- having both 'options' is also interesting: each eye sees differently, and sometimes better, more detail etc., compared to the other, in differing light conditions, so that could be regarded as an advantage I suppose, a kind of (slightly) improved potency.
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