The influence of myopia on visual field changes in patients with and without glaucoma

Abstract

Introduction. Glaucoma, one of the leading causes of irreversible blindness in the elderly population world- wide, is a progressive optic neuropathy. Myopia or near sightedness is a refractive anomaly in which parallel rays of light coming from a distance after refraction through the cornea and lens focus in front of the retina in the vitreous and then in a state of divergence create scatte- red circles on the retina. The visual field is a projection of the functional part of the retina in space, i.e. a pro- jection of all retinal points at which visible sensations can begin. If there is a damage to the nerve fibers of the retina, a decrease or absence of sensitivity to identical stimuli is manifested by defects in the visual field. Methods. The study included 100 patients, who were divided into two groups: one group with glaucoma and another group without glaucoma. Regarding the degree of myopia, all subjects (with and without glaucoma) were divided into 3 groups: Low from-1Diopt to-3Diopt, Me- dium from -3 Diopt to -6 Diopt and High>-6 Diopt. A visual field was made in each patient. Results. The cross tabulation showed in the examined group (glaucoma) and the control group (no glaucoma) for Fisher's Exact Test=28.920 and p<0.001 (p=0.000) /Monte Carlo Exact Sig. (2-sided)/0.000-0.000/. There was a significant difference between the two groups in terms of visual field (finding). For Fisher's Exact Test =31,157 ip <0.001 (p=0.000)/MonteCarloSig. (2-sided) /0.000-0.001 in the performed cross tabulation between the height of myopia and the degree of changes in the visual field, there was a significant difference. Conclusion. There was a significant difference shown in the performed cross tabulation between the height of myopia and the degree of changes in the visual field.