Subtle differences in disease burden of vision loss may exist between sexes
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MARCO ISLAND, Fla. — A study tested the hypothesis that Leonardo da Vinci’s paintings utilizing the sfumato technique may be perceived differently by people with central vision loss vs. peripheral vision loss.
The results were presented in a poster by Annah P. Baykal, MD, and co-authors at the Women in Ophthalmology Summer Symposium.
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Sfumato is a painting technique of the Renaissance in which lines are blurred to create in-focus and out-of-focus planes, mimicking the perception of central vs. peripheral retinal processing of information. “Diseases affecting different parts of the visual pathways could present unique challenges appreciating paintings with sfumato,” the authors wrote in the study abstract.
The study included 104 participants with age-related macular degeneration, 70 participants with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) and 103 participants with normal vision who completed a personal happiness questionnaire related to six da Vinci paintings: Mona Lisa, La Bella Principessa, Salvator Mundi, Lady with an Ermine, St. John the Baptist and La Belle Ferronière. A personal contentment score was calculated for each participant.
The perception of da Vinci paintings with sfumato did not differ with respect to type of vision loss. However, after stratification by sex and adjusting for age, visual acuity and personal contentment scores, significantly lower ratings were associated with AMD and POAG in male participants. The same difference was not observed in female participants.
“This study suggests that there might be subtle differences in disease burden of vision loss between the sexes,” the authors wrote.
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Baykal AP, et al. An eye for art: Ocular disease and the perception of art. Presented at: Women in Ophthalmology Summer Symposium; Aug. 24-27, 2023; Marco Island, Florida.
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