PRIMARY GLAUCOMA ‐ CRITERIA FOR REFERRAL

Abstract

Although criteria for referral in mass screening for glaucoma are frequently debated, these criteria are not necessarily appropriate for an optometrist. He has the task of identifying patients requiring referral for ophthalmological investigation and he is dealing with an individual patient. In this paper, the signs and symptoms of primary glaucoma are discussed in some detail and in the light of some recent publications. As a result a schema is presented for determining when suspect glaucoma patients should be referred. It is intended that all ocular hypertensives will be referred and this may involve up to 6 percent of patients over 40 years of age. Some of these will be glaucomatous and t..