Lens thickness and angle-closure glaucoma. A comparative oculometric study in South African Negroes and Danes.

A group of Negro patients without ocular disease ("normal" group), a group of Negroes with angle closure glaucoma and a normal Danish population are compared in terms of anterior chamber depth, less thickness, vitreous body length and axial length of the globe. It is noted that the normal black population has a significantly thinner lens than the black population with angle closure glaucoma and the normal Danish population. The latter groups have a lens thickness which is similar. This finding is discussed in relation to the lower incidence of acute closure attacks in the black population. Attacks of angle closure in this populatin are generally of the chronic type.