Lens transmission of blue-green light in diabetic patients as measured by autofluorophotometry.

Lens transmission for blue-green light (lambda = 490 nm and 530 nm) was assessed by means of fluorophotometry in 67 diabetic patients without cataracts and compared with that of 52 healthy controls. Lens transmission was determined from peak autofluorescence values in the anterior and posterior parts of the lens, assuming an about equal fluorescence peak quantum efficiency in both parts. The variation in lens transmission between individuals of about the same age was found to be larger in the diabetic patients than in the healthy controls. Decrease in lens transmission as a function of age occurred about 15 years earlier in patients with diabetes of more than 10 years' duration than in the healthy controls. The calculated average extra decrease of lens transmission in the diabetic group amounted to 0.5% for each year of diabetes.