REDUCED CONTRAST SENSITIVITY

Poor contrast makes the world appear hazy or washed out and can lead to difficulties in:

• driving at night or in rain or fog
• judging distances
• walking down steps
• recognizing faces
• finding a telephone number in a directory
• reading instructions on a medicine container
• navigating safely through unfamiliar environments

Loss of spatial awareness and poor mobility or orientation can increase the risk of accidents such as falls. Older adults who have poorer levels of contrast sensitivity are more likely to experience a fall than those with better contrast sensitivity.

Patients with reduced contrast sensitivity have severe problems reading low contrast text; for example, coloured letters on coloured paper may cause great difficulty.