Ocular Hypertension and Glaucomatous Optic Nerve Damage

The incidence of glaucomatous optic nerve damage in ocular hypertension of varying degrees was studied. It rose from 7% with an intraocular pressure of 25–29 mmHg to 70–80% with an intraocular pressure of over 45 mmHg. The increase was sharpest when the pressure rose above 34 mmHg. The incidences were higher for eyes with pseudoexfoliation syndrome than for eyes without pseudoexfoliation. The susceptibility of the eyes to elevated intraocular pressure is distributed over a wide area. Perhaps only a minority of eyes develop optic nerve damage if the intraocular pressure keeps below 30 mmHg. There are possibly eyes whose ability to resist intraocular pressure is not overcome until the pressure is over 34 mmHg.