Pupil Light Reflex Produced by Glare under Mesopic Adaptation

Abstract

The amount of light captured by the eye depends on pupil size. Moreover, one of the factors determining the steady-state pupil size is ambient illumination and sudden increments of light reaching the retina cause a brisk and transient pupil constriction described as the dynamic Pupil Light Reflex response. In experiments where a glare source acts as transient conditioning field, a methodology to measure pupil diameter is required. In the present paper pupil diameter, in steady (0.5 cd/m2) and dynamic adaptation conditions, is measured. The dynamic state is originated by a transient peripheral glare source with three different illuminance levels (15, 30 and 60 lx). Ten eyes of 5 subjects (19, 36, 50, 53 and 52 years old) are considered. The measurements are made by means of a video of the pupil captured with a CCD while the sight is fixated in a chart. In the steady condition, the average pupil diameter for each subject varies between 4.8 and 7.2 mm from one subject to another. In the dynamic condition, latency time results to be independent both of the subject and of the glare level, adding evidence to the robustness of this parameter when radiation is not incident centrally.