Approximately 1 in 9 glaucoma patients use CAM for their disease. Many of these patients do not disclose the use of CAM to their ophthalmologist, but the vast majority report that they still take conventional glaucoma medications as prescribed.
Background/AimsTo determine the effect of glaucoma on outer retinal layer thickness in eyes with horizontal hemifield visual field (VF) defects.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study in glaucomatous eyes with repeatable (in three or examinations) horizontal hemifield VF (programme 24–2) defect defined as: all five nasal VF locations immediately either above or below the horizontal midline abnormal in the pattern deviation plot with p<0.5%; no mirror-image adjacent 5 VF locations abnormal in the pattern deviation plot and no non-edge VF locations in the non-affected hemifield abnormal in the pattern deviation plot with p<1%. We used optical coherence tomography to measure thickness of each retinal layer in the temporal macula (12° horizontally and 24° vertically) and computed the absolute (µm) and relative (%) intraindividual asymmetry between the perimetrically normal and abnormal hemimacula.ResultsWe included 10 eyes of 8 patients with median age of 67 years and median VF mean deviation of −8.85 dB. The nerve fibre, ganglion cell and inner plexiform layers were significantly thinner in the perimetrically abnormal hemimacula (median asymmetry of –6.4, –11.5 and −3.8 µm, (corresponding to –27.7, –40.5 and −15.7 %), respectively, all p≤0.01). The inner nuclear layer was slightly thicker in the perimetrically abnormal hemimacula (median asymmetry of 1.3 µm (5.0 %), p=0.01). The outer plexiform, outer nuclear and photoreceptor layers asymmetry values were negligible.ConclusionOur study showed no evidence that glaucoma has an effect on the outer retinal layer thickness. In contrast, a large impact was observed in inner layer thickness.
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