Specific Visual Symptoms and Signs of Meares-Irlen Syndrome in Korean

PURPOSE: To discriminate the visual symptoms and signs of Meares-Irlen syndrome (MIS) and nonspecific dyslexia from other ophthalmologic diseases (NODs). METHODS: Forty-five patients were enrolled. Thirty four of the patients with MIS whose symptoms improved with tinted lenses comprised MIS group. The other 11 patients whose reading difficulty improved with other ocular therapy and did not require tinted lenses comprised NODs group. The main symptoms causing dyslexia and associated ocular diseases were evaluated. RESULTS: The mean age was 17.9 ± 9.5 years in MIS group, and 19.3 ± 11.0 years in NODs group. In MIS group, the most common symptoms while reading were difficulty to move lines (85%), doubling (53%), and difficulty in bright condition (27%). On the other hand, blurring was the most common symptom in NODs group (45%). The associated ocular diseases in the two groups were refractive error (79% and 73%), dry eye (29% and 18%), and exophoria (6% and 27%), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Doubling, difficulty to move lines, and difficulty in bright condition while reading are main specific symptoms in MIS compared to nonspecific dyslexia from other ophthalmologic disorders.