Nuclear sclerosis cataracts are associated with which color vision defect in the elderly?

Nuclear sclerosis cataracts are associated with which color vision defect in the elderly?

• A. Tritan
• B. Deutan
• C. Protan
• D. Monochromacy

Answer: (A)

Nuclear sclerosis cataracts shift the eye’s spectral sensitivity toward longer wavelengths because the aging lens becomes more yellow, filtering out blue light. This reduces blue-light transmission and disrupts blue-yellow discrimination, producing a blue-yellow color vision defect called tritan. Red-green defects (deutan and protan) are inherited cone-pigment issues, not typical results of cataracts, and monochromacy is an extreme, rare color-vision loss. Therefore, the elderly with nuclear sclerosis commonly show a tritan (blue-yellow) defect.

Nuclear sclerosis cataracts shift the eye’s spectral sensitivity toward longer wavelengths because the aging lens becomes more yellow, filtering out blue light. This reduces blue-light transmission and disrupts blue-yellow discrimination, producing a blue-yellow color vision defect called tritan. Red-green defects (deutan and protan) are inherited cone-pigment issues, not typical results of cataracts, and monochromacy is an extreme, rare color-vision loss. Therefore, the elderly with nuclear sclerosis commonly show a tritan (blue-yellow) defect.