Fitness to drive with glaucoma

Abstract

Glaucoma is one of the eye diseases that are particularly relevant to driving in old age. The ophthalmologist often has to take on the task of traffic medical consultation or medical appraisal. It is essential to distinguish between fitness to drive and driving ability or driving safety and driving capability. The medical examination of fitness to drive can only be carried out over long intervals and basically requires an ophthalmological examination in compliance with all the requirements of the driving license ordinance. This is not ahealthcare task. In the case of clarification of the fitness to drive in people with known glaucoma on behalf of the test persons themselves or adriving license authority, visual field testing must be performed using manual kinetic perimetry according to Goldmann, especially for all borderline case decisions by traffic experts. The ophthalmologist faces the particular difficulty of maintaining abalance between the legal duty of care and patient-centered care in order not to strain the patient-physician relationship.