[Comprehensive study of the iris in transformed light in simple glaucoma]

Complex examination of the iris under light transformed by various methods - iridochromoscopy with iridochromophotography, transillumination in red light, and fluorescein angiography - was performed on 26 eyes of patients with simple glaucoma and 24 normal eyes of subjects aged between 42 and 76 years. All the methods employed revealed iris changes in 100% of the simple glaucoma cases. The differences found between the study group and the controls were significant (P = 0.01). A highly positive correlation was found between the results of iris fluorescein angiography and iridochromoscopy with iridochromophotography (r = 0.932; P = 0.0005), as well as between the results of iris fluorescein angiography and transillumination in red light (r = 0.921; P = 0.0005). Complex examination of the iris under transformed light showed the most typical changes in simple glaucoma to be exogenous pigmentation of the pupillary and ciliary regions, partial or complete destruction of the pupillary margin, and stromal atrophy affecting the pupil or the entire iris. Defects and thinning of the posterior iris pigment layer, iris vessel permeability disorders associated with hypoperfusion and microneovascularization in the lesser circle and the ciliary region were also found.