Nonselective losses in foveal chromatic and luminance sensitivity in multiple sclerosis.

A psychophysical technique involving simple increment threshold measurements was used to determine foveal chromatic and luminance sensitivity in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and in matched normal controls. The patient group showed substantial and nonselective losses in chromatic and luminance sensitivity relative to the normal control group, and these losses were significantly correlated with each other over individual patients. It is suggested that impairment of foveal visual function due to demyelination is not more specific to fibers carrying chromatic information than to fibers carrying luminance information.