[Pallor of the optic papilla--an early sign of glaucoma. A clinical controlled study of optic disk pallor and papillar cupping in glaucoma simplex, ocular hypertension and normal eyes with the optic nerve head analyzer].

Double examinations of 99 eyes (34 healthy, 12 with ocular hypertension, 53 with primary open-angle glaucoma) were performed with the Optic Nerve Head Analyzer to evaluate whether an increase in disk pallor or in the cup-disk ratio (CDR) is the earlier sign of glaucoma. In eyes with primary open-angle glaucoma the CDR and the mean optic disk pallor value are significantly higher than in healthy eyes. There is no significant difference in the CDR of patients with ocular hypertension as compared to normals. However, the mean pallor value is significantly higher in eyes with ocular hypertension than in healthy eyes. Therefore, an increase in pallor may precede a significant increase in the CDR or detectable visual field defects.