Twenty-Year Follow-up of Visual Field Defects in Primary Glaucoma Eyes

Abstract

Purpose: The time course of visual field defects in patients with primary glaucoma was investigated for 20 or more years. Methods: The subjects were 51 eyes of 29 patients (open angle glaucoma, 40 eyes of 21 patients angle closure glaucoma, 11 eyes of 8 patients). The mean intraocular pressure of these subjects was within 21 mm Hg during the follow-up periods. All the eyes were monitored with Goldmann's perimetry, and the visual field was graded using Kozaki's classification. Results: At the 20-year follow-up, 68% of the open angle cases and 45% of the angle closure cases had significant progression of visual field defects. There was no significant difference in average intraocular pressure during the follow-up period between the progression group and the stable group. Conclusion: These results suggested that, in a follow-up of twenty years, visual field defects both in primary open angle glaucoma and chronic angle closure glaucoma can progress frequently, even if the intraocular pressure of these patients was well controlled.