Amsler grid Amsler grid The Amsler grid, used since 1945, is a grid of horizontal and vertical lines used to monitor a person's central visual field. The grid was developed by Marc Amsler, a Swiss ophthalmologist. It is a diagnostic tool that aids in the detection of visual disturbances caused by changes in the retina, particularly the macula (e.g. macular degeneration, Epiretinal membrane), as well as the optic nerve and the visual pathway to the brain. In the test, the person looks with each eye separately at the small dot in the center of the grid. Patients with macular disease may see
Samuel Amsler a passionate admirer of Raphael, and had great success in reproducing his works. Amsler's principal engravings are: "The Triumphal March of Alexander the Great", and a full-length "Christ", after the sculptures of Thorwaldsen and Dannecker; the "Entombment of Christ", and two "Madonnas" after Raphael; and the "Union between Religion and the Arts", after Overbeck, his last work, on which he spent six years. His portrait album, now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, includes a fine head of the poet Friedrich Rückert.(1) A family portrait of Amsler by Wilhelm von Kaulbach is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.(2)The portrait