ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the background of the visual field with its clinical applications. It provides information on indices and maps. The ‘visual field’ is the extent and sensitivity of the area around fixation perceived by the visual system during fixation, and ‘perimetry’ is the study of this area. Visual fields are considered to represent the ‘hill of vision’, a mathematical representation of the varying sensitivities to luminance across the retina. The ability of the visual system to perceive a target of a given luminance, size or velocity varies across the field. Therefore, it is important to establish the thresholds at which a given target will be perceived. Perimetry using moving targets of uniform luminance and size is known as ‘dynamic perimetry’, and those tests using static targets of varying size or luminance are ‘static’ tests.
