Search

Search the guidance

Make your search more specific...

Guidance areas

Search

As well as searching, you can browse the Guidance.

Identifying patients at risk from glaucoma

A226
You will identify the majority of patients who are at risk from primary open angle glaucoma during a routine eye examination. They are principally patients with one or more of the following: 
  1. optic disc features suggestive of glaucoma
  2. loss of peripheral vision
  3. high IOP.
A227
Even in the absence of the signs or symptoms in the paragraph above, patients at greater than average risk of primary open angle glaucoma include those:91
  1. in certain ethnic groups, for example African-Caribbean people
  2. with first degree relatives with glaucoma
  3. over the age of 40. The risk increases with every decade of life thereafter
  4. with thinner corneas
  5. with myopia (myopia >6D is associated with an increased risk)
  6. with diabetes
  7. with systemic hypertension
  8. taking topical or systemic steroids, as they may develop steroid-induced glaucoma.
A228
The signs of asymptomatic primary angle closure glaucoma are almost identical to those of primary open angle glaucoma with the exception that the anterior chamber angle is capable of closure.
A229
The prevalence of angle closure glaucoma is greater than that of open angle glaucoma in people of South or East Asian descent.