Comparison of the efficiency of the Snellen and Bailey Lovie optotipes to measure the visual acuity in patients with refractive amblyopia diagnose between 5 and 12 years

Abstract

Snellen’s chart is the most wide used for the determination of the visual acuity in our country, at present many authors had find that some of the factors of design can lead to more reliable measurements in normal eyes that in eyes with amblyopia. Since the amblyopia is responsible for the visual loss in more persons that all the diseases and united traumas, before forty five years, is well-known that its diagnosis, treatment and follow-up has clinical importance. Objective Comparing the efficiency of the optotipes Snellen and Bailey Lovie to measure visual acuity in patients between 5 and 12 years of age with refractive amblyopia. Methods and Materials Patients were selected following certain inclusion criteria. Sample was composed by 40 patients (20 refractive amblyopes and 20 strabismic amblyopes) who came to the Unit of pediatric Optometry and visual training in the Optometric Research Institute of the La Salle University There was measured the Far visual acuity in all the patients of the sample with each chart and the results were registered in Clinical record in logMAR units. There was a similarity in the statistical findings in both groups of patients and the results were analyzed as a unique group The statistical analysis calculated by Pearsons correlation test shows a high degree of correlation for both tests in each eye. Nevertheless the statistics reveals that there exists significant difference between the measurement realized with Snellen and the realized with Bailey Lovie’s chart with and without glasses in each eye. Conclusions there is a high degree of correlation between the measurements realized with the Snellen and Bailey Lovie charts in the refractive and strabismic amblyopyopes between 5 and 12 years, nevertheless there is significant difference between the measurement with both charts, showing an apparent overestimation of the visual acuity with Snellen’s chart, therefore this chart is not appropriate for measuring visual acuity in this group of patients because its results are not reliable.