Two Eyes Are Better Than One-Binocular Summation of Dark Vision in Healthy Individuals and Patients with Chronic Respiratory Disease

We compared monocular and binocular absolute thresholds of dark adaptation in two separate study populations. Eighteen healthy individuals (Group A) and 13 patients with chronic respiratory insufficiency (Group B) were examined three times each by computerised dark adaptometry with simultaneous but separate recordings from each eye and binocularly. The respiratory patients received oxygen supplement at visits 1 and 3. In Group A, at all three visits, binocular dark adaptation was significantly more sensitive (40.5%) than monocular dark adaptation with either eye. In Group B, at visits 1 and 3, binocular dark adaptation was also significantly more sensitive than monocular dark adaptation (40.5% higher than the right and 47% higher than the left eye). However, in Group B, at visit 2 without oxygen treatment, no significant differences were observed between monocular and binocular sensitivities. Binocular dark vision was superior to monocular dark vision in healthy individuals and in patients with respiratory insufficiency that were provided oxygen supplementation. Furthermore, deficit in oxygen seems to affect binocular summation, perhaps by impaired enhancement in the central nervous system.