Dynamics of aqueous humor in the syndrome of exfoliation with glaucoma

We compared the aqueous humor dynamics of the affected and unaffected eyes of ten subjects with unilateral exfoliation and glaucoma and normal fellow eyes. The affected eyes had a greater mean intraocular pressure (31.9 +/- 11 mm Hg) than the unaffected control eyes (17.7 +/- 4.7 mm Hg) and a higher apparent resistance to the outflow of aqueous humor (15.2 +/- 7.3 min mm Hg/microliter vs 6.5 +/- 2.1 min mm Hg/microliter). The affected eyes accumulated systemically administered fluorescein at an abnormal rate. The rate of aqueous flow through the anterior chamber was lower in the affected eyes than in the control eyes (2.02 +/- 0.63 min-1 X 10(2) vs 2.38 +/- 0.71 min-1 X 10(2), as was the anterior chamber volume (126 +/- 23 microliter vs 136 +/- 25 microliter). The cornea-to-anterior chamber transfer coefficient for fluorescein was within the normal range in the affected eyes (mean, 2.51 +/- 1.2 min-1 X 10(3).