[Night visual function of glaucoma patients with good photopic vision].

PURPOSE: To measure night visual function of glaucoma patients with good photopic vision.

SUBJECTS AND

METHODS

Patients aged 30-59 years who were diagnosed with glaucoma in the outpatient clinic of Nara Medical University, and showed a corrected visual acuity of > or = 1.0 in both eyes. The patients were classified using static threshold perimetry with a Humphrey field analyzer into two groups, with a mean deviation of -6 dB or better (early-stage glaucoma group) or a mean deviation worse than -6dB (intermediate/late-stage glaucoma group), and night visual function was measured. In addition, the patients were compared with normal controls without eye disease other than refractive error.

RESULTS

The early-stage glaucoma group included 26 patients, and the intermediate/late-stage glaucoma group included 22 patients. There were 23 controls. Night visual function differed among the 3 groups. With the progression of visual field defects, the night visual function decreased.

CONCLUSION

These results suggest that night visual function can be used as a new parameter for the evaluation of visual function in glaucoma patients.