Initial glaucomatous optic disk and retinal nerve fiber layer abnormalities and their progression.

We attempted to identify the initial glaucomatous changes of the optic disk and retinal nerve fiber layer and to analyze how these changes subsequently progressed. Of 61 eyes of 61 patients with ocular hypertension, 23 (38%) developed glaucoma during ten years of follow-up (range, five to 15 years). The initial sign of glaucomatous damage was diffuse enlargement of the optic disk cup in ten of 23 eyes or generalized thinning of the nerve fiber layer without localized changes in 12 of 23 eyes. We found localized optic disk damage in ten of 23 patients and localized retinal nerve fiber layer damage in 11 of 23 patients alone or in combination with diffuse damage. In 13 of 23 eyes, the cupping ended up in diffuse enlargement with even more profound thinning of the neural rim in the upper and lower temporal disk margins. There seems to be great variability in the appearance and progression of the initial glaucomatous optic disk and nerve fiber layer abnormalities in patients with increased intraocular pressure.