Glaucoma surgery in Caribbean Negroes on Curacao

Fifty-four eyes of Negro patients of the Caribbean island of Curacao were operated upon for medically uncontrolled open-angle glaucoma. Two different types of surgical techniques were used: procedures with cautery under a scleral flap and trabeculectomy with cautery. A third group, a combined intracapsular lens extraction and trabeculectomy was also included. Trabeculectomy with cautery gave the most successful results: in about half of the eyes without medication and an additional third of the eyes with medication. Failures occurred in about 15%.