Vision evaluation in people with Down's syndrome.

We tested the colour vision of 72 people with Down's syndrome using the Ishihara test and an anomaloscope. We found that 13 of the subjects, 6 males and 7 females, had defective colour vision according to Pickford's classification. In monocular vision 10 eyes were protan (five simple, three extreme and two deviant), one eye was simple deuteranomalous and the remaining eyes were normal: in binocular vision four of the subjects were protan (two simple and two deviant), two subjects were deutan (one simple and one deviant) and the rest were normal. Many of our subjects had lens opacities, strabismus, nystagmus, hypermetropia, high myopia and astigmatism, confirming literature reports. The contrast sensitivity function measured with the VCTS test showed a considerable loss of low-frequency sensitivity in our subjects compared to a normal population, which was more marked in the more severely impaired subjects.

Vision defects in albinism.

We have examined the possible presence of color vision anomalies in 9 individuals (17 eyes, 1 blind) with fundus findings suggesting ocular albinism using the Ishihara plates, the 28-hue Roth test, and the Davico anomaloscope. Results indicate that four of these individuals show no sign of the anomalies expected in an albino in either of the two eyes. Of the remaining cases, two are simple deuteranomals in both eyes, according to Pickford's classification criteria. The rest have protanomaly; however, in these the deviation toward red appears in both eyes in only one subject, whereas in the other two subjects it appears in only one eye, their binocular color vision being basically normal. Our study shows that a large proportion of these albinos have photophobia, pendular nystagmus, strabismus, noticeable refractive errors (astigmatism and high myopia), and poor visual acuity [usually less than 6/30 (20/100) with correction]. The measurement of contrast sensitivity function (CSF) indicates that the frequency of 12 cpd cannot be perceived, even in binocular vision.