Psychotherapeutic Treatment Options in Glaucoma Patients.

Glaucoma poses the second largest cause of severe visual impairment and loss of vision worldwide. Despite the progress in both pharmaceutical and surgical treatments, the attempts to decrease intraocular pressure and prevent progression of glaucomatous optic neuropathy fail in many cases. Hence there is a high demand for additional complementary methods, which can reduce intraocular pressure and improve ocular blood flow as well as mental well-being.

[Endocrine ophthalmopathy. A visible psychophysical complaint].

Background: Endocrine orbitopathy (Graves' disease) is an autoimmune disease based on a genetic predisposition. Patients with a visible exophthalmos were examined and treated in the department of ophthalmology.

Objectives: Is there an association between the formation of exophthalmos and life situations and events?

Material And Methods: A total of 64 patients with exophthalmos due to Graves' disease were asked to complete a questionnaire to evaluate psychosocial morbidity, the quality of life, social background and stressful life events.

Short-term effects of relaxation music on patients suffering from primary open-angle glaucoma.

Purpose: To evaluate whether additive relaxation music (RM) has an adjuvant short-term effect on physiological and psychological parameters in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma.

Methods: Prospective, randomized clinical trial. Patients in the therapy group (TG) received a 30-minute RM via headphones, whereas members of the control group (CG) did not.

[Self-relaxation techniques for glaucoma patients. Significance of autogenic training, hypnosis and music therapy].

Background: Glaucoma is currently the second most common cause of severe visual impairment and blindness worldwide. Standard pharmaceutical and surgical interventions often fail to prevent progression of glaucomatous optic neuropathy.

Objectives: To evaluate whether adjuvantly applied self-relaxation techniques can significantly impact intraocular pressure, ocular perfusion and the overall mental state of affected patients.

Can dynamic contour tonometry and ocular pulse amplitude help to detect severe cardiovascular pathologies?

We demonstrate the close relationship between a conspicuous ocular pulse amplitude and severe underlying cardiovascular disease. Two otherwise symptom-free glaucoma patients without any previously diagnosed underlying cardiovascular pathology but with a conspicuous ocular pulse amplitude and who underwent routine examinations in our glaucoma department were referred to the appropriate specialty for further diagnostic procedures. In both patients, the diagnosis of a tachyarrhythmia was made as suspected on dynamic contour tonometry measurements.

[Comprehensive glaucoma care].

Glaucoma is a multi-faceted condition which is influenced by many factors within and beyond the eye. For this reason, ophthalmologists require a broader understanding of other conditions which affect the development of glaucoma, specifically relating to diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. Interdisciplinary communication with other specialists is necessary to coordinate optimal treatment methods and offer optimal care for glaucoma patients.

Intravascular papillary endothelial hyperplasia - a rare finding in the orbital region.

Intravascular papillary endothelial hyperplasia is a benign lesion of vascular origin. It is caused by excessive proliferation of endothelial cells in vascular malformations or normal blood vessels. We report the case of a 58-year-old woman sent to our clinic for surgery of an orbital fat prolapse at her right eye.

[Bilateral ocular surface squamous neoplasia and neurodermatitis. Two cases with different courses].

Recent data suggest neurodermatitis as a risk factor for ocular surface squamous neoplasia (OSSN). We describe two cases of bilateral OSSN associated with chronic atopic keratoconjunctivitis. The cases support the hypothesis that neurodermatitis is a risk factor for OSSN.

[Unexpected foreign bodies in eyelid surgery. Three cases of unexplained lid tumors].

Foreign bodies are quite commonly found incorporated in the lid area after injuries. Normally the patient's description of the injury and the usually fresh clinical findings leave little room for doubt about their composition. In isolated cases, however, patients are admitted with "lid tumors" following an accident in the rather distant past, so that sometimes no connection can be seen with the symptoms present on admission and it is not even clear whether there is still foreign material in the wound.

Topical allopurinol or corticosteroids and acetylcysteine in the early treatment of experimental corneal alkali burns: a pilot study.

Purpose: To investigate the effect of topical allopurinol on experimental corneal burns and to compare this to established treatment modalities such as topical prednisolone and acetylcysteine.

Methods: Twenty Wistar rats were randomly assigned to four groups (n=5 each). The groups were controls (normal saline), allopurinol 0.

[Treatment of trichiasis with a diode laser].

Background: Various methods have been used in the treatment of trichiasis: epilation, excision, cryosurgery, thermocaustic needle, and argon laser. None of these is satisfactory. Based on the principle of selective photothermolysis for destroying specifically the hair follicle, we used a diode laser and evaluated its efficacy.

Conjunctival malignant melanoma in children.

The first case concerns a 14-year-old girl with a brown conjunctival mass temporally in her right eye which was excised and diagnosed as active conjunctival melanotic lesion. Five years later, a malignant melanoma of the right lacrimal sac and orbit led to general metastatic spread. The second case demonstrates a conjunctival brown mass temporally in the left eye of a 3-year-old boy which enlarged over 4 years.

Stress reactivity of intraocular pressure after relaxation training in open-angle glaucoma patients.

The present study was based on the hypothesis that stress may contribute to increased intraocular pressure (IOP) in open-angle glaucoma patients. It is investigated whether IOP reactivity to a mental stressor test (MST) can be influenced by relaxation training. Twenty three patients with open-angle glaucoma were randomly assigned either to a training group (TG) or to a waiting-list control group (CG).

Panophthalmitis with acute scleral necrosis after brachytherapy of a malignant melanoma of the ciliary body.

A 52-year-old man who presented with a large ciliochoroidal malignant melanoma was treated by application of a 106Ru plaque. At 8 days after removal of the plaque, severe panophthalmitis with rapidly progressive scleral necrosis at the site of the tumor made enucleation inevitable because of impending perforation of the globe. Microscopic examination revealed an intense inflammatory response and almost complete necrosis of the tumor and overlying sclera.

Effects of self-relaxation methods and visual imagery on IOP in patients with open-angle glaucoma.

In this study, the effects of a training in relaxation and visual imagery on the intra-ocular pressure (IOP) of patients with primary open-angle glaucoma were investigated. Twenty-three patients, aged 24-69 years, were assigned either to a training group or to a waiting-list control group. The intervention included a basic programme (BP) of standard autogenic relaxation exercises and an advanced programme (AP) in which special exercises in ocular relaxation and imagination of aqueous humour drainage were conducted.

[The dry eye and diabetes mellitus].

Diabetic patients seem to have problems with dry eye symptoms. Therefore, 92 patients with diabetes types I and II and aged from 7 to 69 years were compared with a group of normal healthy controls comparable in number, age and sex. A general ophthalmological check-up was performed.

Rare choroidal tumour simulating a malignant melanoma.

A 15-year-old boy had been treated for a central chorioretinitis of his right eye. The other eye had always been normal. Two years later he presented a relapse with deterioration of central visual acuity.

[The dry eye in kidney transplant patients].

Fifty-three patients with severe renal disease and/or kidney transplants underwent full ophthalmological examinations, including tear breakup time, Schirmer's test, and impression cytology of the conjunctivae. Although only some 50% of the patients complained of typical dry-eye symptoms, pathologic changes of the outer eye were found in almost 70%. Tear break-up times and Schirmer's test values were greatly reduced.

[Retinal detachment and sarcoidosis].

A 27 year old patient with histologically proven conjunctival sarcoidosis developed a posterior uveitis with retinal giant tear and inversion of retina. The patient was treated systemically with steroids and the retinal detachment healed by usual operation, visual acuity 6/10.

Complications by liquid plastics in ophthalmic surgery. Histopathologic study.

Retrospective morphological studies of ocular tissues after treatment with liquid plastics reveal many complications induced by the material. Cyanoacrylates for punctal occlusion glide into the lacrimal sac and lead to obstructive dacryocystitis and even to reactive xanthogranuloma. The use of this glue in combination with a hard contact lens as 'artificial epithelium' provokes a remarkable stromal and endothelial cell loss of the cornea.