Early detection of chronic simple glaucoma in general practice.

Chronic simple glaucoma, also known as open-angle glaucoma, is the cause of blindness in about 13 per cent of people on the Blind Register, and 40 per cent of these have had no treatment before registration. Patients over the age of 60 are most liable to the disease and it is rare under the age of 40; there is often a family predisposition. I carried out a routine test for the disease in 300 patients over 60 years of age in my general practice with the object of detecting chronic simple glaucoma at an early stage. Anyone with an intraocular pressure of over 23 mm of mercury in either eye was referred to a consultant ophthalmic surgeon for further investigation. Seven patients (2.3 per cent of those examined) were confirmed as suffering from chronic simple glaucoma.