Visual function in hypermetropia. An electroretinographic and psychophysical study.

Dark-adapted retinal function was tested electroretinographically and psychophsysically in patients with severe hypermetropia. These patients were first tested in 1982 and were classified into three electroretinographic categories subnormal, normal and supernormal, according to the amplitudes and the b-wave to a-wave relationships of their dark-adapted electroretinographic responses. These patients were invited for a follow-up examination to examine whether the subnormal electroretinogram represented a stationary or a progressive syndrome, to correlate functional vision to the electroretinographic findings and to determine the changes in refraction and electroretinographic responses that might have occurred during an 8-year period. No significant changes were seen in the amplitudes and b-wave to a-wave relationships of the electroretinographic responses. These observations supported the initial electroretinographic classification of the hypermetropic patients and indicated that the patients belonging to the subnormal group were probably characterized by a stationary defect. The psychophysically determined thresholds at different retinal loci (from 30 degrees nasal to 40 degrees temporal) were within the normal range for all the patients regardless of their electroretinographic characteristics. Thus, the abnormal electroretinographic responses of hypermetropic patients probably did not reflect abnormal retinal function but may be accounted for by changes in the electrical resistances of extraretinal tissues relative to that of the retina itself.