THE EFFECT OF PUPILLARY DILATATION ON VISUAL FIELD TESTING IN GLAUCOMA

Abstract

SUMMARY G laucoma is still one of the most common causes of blindness. One reason is that glaucoma is often diagnosed late, with considerable optic nerve damage, increasing the risk for blindness. Today patients with glaucoma should be followed, not only - with tonometry to ensure that the target pressure has been met - but also with repeated measurement of glaucoma damage, to see whether the initial target pressure was adequate, or whether, target pressure has to be lowered further and treatment be stepped up. Currently, it is still one of the preferable ways to measure damage with perimetry. Methods of identifying VF progression have developed over time, and more recent methods are more effective than older ones. Early progression can be identified with perimetry with great certainty. Recommendations have also been issued to perform perimetry much more frequently in newly diagnosed patients, than earlier recommendations, as often as three times per year during the first 2 years after diagnosis The new knowledge must now result in an improvement of clinical glaucoma care, an individualized care focusing on measurement of disease damage, rate of progression, preventing visual disability, and loss of quality of life.