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Top-Ten South African Glaucoma Society Meeting
July 26th-28th, 2002, Champagne Castle Resort, Drakensberg, South Africa
Petrus Gous
- The rate of visual field deterioration is an important factor in deciding how aggressive to be with treatment for POAG
- With a threatened central field, opt for the surgical procedure that will give you the lowest IOP, preferably in the low teens
- Corneal pachymetry should be standard care in the evaluation of ocular hypertension
- Exercise lowers IOP
- Small-spot direct ophthalmoscopy is still one of the best ways to evaluate the disc in glaucoma
- IOP fluctuation seemingly causes more damage than steady increase of IOP
- Cataract extraction alone is usually successful in managing chronic angle closure if there is less than 180º of synechiae
- Deep sclerectomy combined with clear corneal phaco is successful in controlling IOP and visual field progression
- Non-penetrating glaucoma surgery without additional manipulation shows 10% success at ten years; virgin eyes (i.e., those never having received glaucoma medication) do much better
- Deep sclerectomy without goniopuncture and bleb manipulation has no role when a target IOP of less than 16 mmHg is needed; you are unlikely to obtain such a low IOP after this procedure
