Chromatic and Luminosity Processing in Retinal Disease

Color vision loss can be an early sign of eye disease; in many retinal disorders the loss precedes any change in visual acuity. Nonin‐vasive psychophysical methods allow factoring out of preretinal, receptoral, and postre‐ceptoral (neural) components of the color vision change. A loss of chromatic but not achromatic sensitivity occurs for diabetics; the loss is selective for pathways subserving blue‐sensitive photoreceptors. Both chromatic and achromatic pathways are altered in glaucoma and senile macular degeneration; the most marked change in central serous choroido‐pathy is loss of sensitivity somewhere in the blue‐sensitive cone pathway. There is evidence that the pathways subserved by blue‐sensitive cones have anatomically and physiologically different properties from those served by other receptor types, and they appear particularly vulnerable to disturbances of retinal integrity.