2020–2021 BCSC Basic and Clinical Science Course™
11 Lens and Cataract
Chapter 6: Evaluation and Management of Cataracts
Special Tests
Visual Field Testing
It is important to perform confrontation field testing in all cataract patients, but formal visual field testing is not indicated for every patient with lens opacity. Visual field testing may help the ophthalmologist identify vision loss resulting from disease processes other than cataract. Patients with a history of glaucoma, optic nerve disease, or retinal abnormality may benefit from visual field evaluation to document the degree of visual field loss. Preoperative visual field loss does not preclude improvement in visual function following cataract surgery. Progressive cataracts may induce diffuse visual field depression that disappears after cataract removal.
Excerpted from BCSC 2020-2021 series: Section 11 - Lens and Cataract. For more information and to purchase the entire series, please visit https://www.aao.org/bcsc.