Digital Nullification of Visual Distortion to Quantify Metamorphopsia

A Pilot Study

Lifton, Jacob A. BA
Moshfeghi, Andrew A. MD, MBA

From Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles (JAL); and USC Roski Eye Institute, Department of Ophthalmology, Keck School of Medicine University of Southern California, Los Angeles (AAM).

Supported in part by an unrestricted grant to the Department of Ophthalmology from Research to Prevent Blindness, New York.

Presented, in part, at the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Macula Society in Bonita Springs, FL, and at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Research and Vision in Ophthalmology in Vancouver, Canada, in 2019.

The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.

Address correspondence to Andrew A. Moshfeghi, MD, MBA, USC Roski Eye Institute, 1450 San Pablo St., Los Angeles, CA 90033; email: [email protected].

Received May 27, 2019

Accepted July 29, 2019

Ophthalmic Surgery, Lasers, and Imaging Retina 51(1):p 11-20, January 01, 2020. | DOI: 10.3928/23258160-20191211-02

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE:

To evaluate a novel digital method of metamorphopsia quantification in patients with symptomatic visual distortion as determined by M-CHARTS.

PATIENTS AND METHODS:

In this institutional review board-approved, prospective, cross-sectional observational study, subjects were presented with an objectively straight dotted line that bisects a central fixation point. The subjects digitally altered the line's contour until it appeared straight. Calculation of the area between the original objectively straight line presented to the subject and their newly manipulated line was performed to determine the manipulated area under the curve (M-AUC).

RESULTS:

Sixty-two percent of test targets were fully or significantly straightened by affected subjects. M-AUC was significantly correlated with M-CHARTS scores in both the horizontal (P < .001) and vertical (P = .05) orientations.

CONCLUSIONS:

The deformation of an objectively straight line by a subject with metamorphopsia may be a viable way of both quantifying and spatially characterizing visual distortions.

[Ophthalmic Surg Lasers Imaging Retina. 2020;51:11–20.]