[15 years automated perimetry--where does the path lead?]

15 years ago the first fully automated perimeter became available, the Octopus 201, developed by Fankhauser in Bern. Some of the objections which were raised in those days against automated perimeters have turned out true, many, however, not. From todays perspective automated perimetry has brought tremendous advantages for clinical routine diagnosis. The essential power of automated perimetry is its ability to obtain quantitative data which can be processed statistically. The examination of the central visual field may be performed in a much more sophisticated way than by manual kinetic testing. Automated perimetry, however, also has its draw-backs, which are mostly due to mistakes or errors by the examiner, not so much to the method itself. For routine light-sense perimetry the upcoming years will give us faster and optimized testing strategies. Procedures for automated interpretation of visual field data will be developed. The interest in more complex perimetric test criteria goes on one hand into the direction of independence of disturbancies of the optical media (e.g. temporal criteria), on the other hand into the differentiation of various cell populations in the visual system (Blue/Yellow-Perimetry; Motion-Defined-Form etc.). For objective perimetry a powerful system for pattern-ERG and pattern-VECP with a spatial resolution comparable to standard perimetric tests is available. Also in these fields of perimetry the coming years will bring interesting and revolutionary new developments which will open new diagnostic dimensions.