Dynamic retinoscopies: Are they reliable?

The goal of this project was to establish the intraexaminer and interexaminer reliability of MEM, Book, Bell and Stresspoint retinoscopies, and secondly to compare findings of the different techniques to each other and to near autorefractor measurements. The four retinoscopies were performed on thirty-one children three times each by four retinoscopists. Identity of the children and the power of all lenses used in the study were concealed from the retinoscopists. Results indicate good intrarater reliability of all four techniques and poorer interrater reliability. Bell retinoscopy was statistically the most reliable of the four. The four techniques produced statistically different, though strongly correlated, results. None were well correlated with near autorefractor measurements.