Optic nerve head drusen and visual field loss in normotensive and hypertensive eyes.

Objective: To compare visual field loss (VFL) in eyes with optic nerve head drusen (ONHD) with or without ocular hypertension (OHT).

Methods: The records of all patients aged 45 years or older with a diagnosis of ONHD at 2 centers were reviewed. OHT was defined as intraocular pressure >or=22 mm Hg.

Noncontact in vivo confocal laser scanning microscopy of exfoliation syndrome.

Purpose: To visualize structural alterations of the cornea, iris, and lens in patients with exfoliation syndrome (XFS) using a noncontact in vivo laser scanning confocal microscope and to correlate these with the clinical features.

Methods: The cornea, iris, and lens of 30 eyes with XFS were imaged using the Rostock Cornea Module of Heidelberg Retina Tomograph II (50x noncontact Nikon lens, an estimated 1 to 2 mum transverse resolution, 500x500-mum field of view). Serial transverse section images, as well as anterior segment photographs, were taken and analyzed.

Natural compounds: evidence for a protective role in eye disease.

Glaucoma often progresses despite lowering of intraocular pressure (IOP) to acceptable or normal levels; it can also develop at normal or even low IOP on the basis of non-IOP-dependent risk factors. Therefore, a need exists for therapies limiting damage due to glaucoma that are independent of therapies that simply lower IOP. The aim of neuroprotection in glaucoma is to slow progression by blocking the mechanisms that lead to apoptosis.