Abstract

AIM To introduce the “starlight” test which was devised to check binocular vision in normal conditions of seeing in a rapid, easy, and cost effective manner and to estimate the possibility of its clinical use in screening the binocular visual field of patients.

METHOD The Bagolini striated glass test consists of optically plano lenses with imperceptible parallel scratches that barely blur the environment but produce two perpendicular luminous stripes (right eye stripe of 45° and left eye stripe of 135°) when subjects with normal binocular vision view one light source. Unlike the original Bagolini test, the starlight test uses three light sources in horizontal or vertical lines according to the testing purposes and the subject is asked to fixate upon the centre light. Through Bagolini glasses, the subject observes the resulting grid-like pattern and the state of binocular visual field of the subject can be roughly estimated.

RESULTS Normal subjects and patients with strabismus, visual field loss from intracranial diseases, glaucoma, retinitis pigmentosa, and functional visual loss were examined using the starlight test and findings from each case were discussed.

CONCLUSIONS The starlight test, which was made by hand at a low cost, is a simple test that can be used clinically. It provides information about the state of binocular vision of patients in normal conditions of seeing. It is also useful because it enables the examiner to share similar experiences with the examinee. The results suggest it can be effective in visual field screening.