The effect of prism adaptation on the response AC/A ratio

Abstract

Vergence adaptation, also known as prism adaptation, is a phenomenon in which a patient’s heterophoria changes after prolonged viewing through prism. The effect of prism adaptation on the accommodation–convergence relationship, quantified by the AC/A ratio, is not known. Previous studies of AC/A ratio stability and alterability have used only stimulus AC/A ratio calculations, or have measured accommodative responses to only one or two stimuli. The ideal study of AC/A ratio stability and alterability would measure accommodative responses to several accommodative stimuli, and use these along with vergence responses to calculate response AC/A ratios, rather than stimulus AC/A ratios. In addition, the gradient method should be used to avoid any effect of proximal vergence resulting from changes in target distance. This paper describes a project which investigated the effect of vergence (prism) adaptation on the gradient response AC/A ratio, using accommodative responses measured for five different accommodative stimuli. The response AC/A ratio did not significantly change following a period of adaptation to base-in prism for six of the eight subjects in this study. In addition, the response AC/A ratio did not significantly change following a period of adaptation to base-out prism for six of the eight subjects.