[Eye manifestations as climacteric symptom]

The menopausal syndrome consists of a variety of psychic and physical signs of different intensity. At our outpatient department for problems in menopause and prevention of osteoporosis (1. Dept. of Gynaecol. and Obstetrics, Vienna) 1287 women who were consulting this department for the first time because of prevailing complaints or prophylactic reasons, were registered during the years 1988 and 1989. In the course of this work we paid particular attention to the symptom "eye complaint" as a sign of the beginning of the menopausal period. 98 out of 430 patients with eye complaints were examined ophthalmologically. Referring to our patient population we tried to analyse epidemiologically the frequency and the degree of severity of menopausal eye complaints as well as the therapeutical response to a hormone substitution therapy. To what extent an endocrinological explanation can be found and which facts lead us assume such a statement, we have tried to demonstrate in the discussion.