Optical density of human macular pigment

Abstract Foveal and parafoveal spectral sensitivities of the G cone mechanism were used to derive the difference spectrum for the macular pigment for 12 observers. Measurements of the peak density of the macular pigment were obtained with a shortened version of the same procedure for an additional 15 observers. The mean density for all 27 observers at 460 nm was0.77 ± 0.06 with a range of 0.21–1.22. The mean density is higher than that previously reported and, compared to the standard absorbance curve (Wyszecki and Stiles, 1967) , the results indicate higher density values for wavelengths on the long wavelength side of the absorption maximum.