[A study of para-foveal color vision in normal-tension and primary open angle glaucoma eyes]

A perimetric color vision test developed by Iijima et al. for evaluating parafoveal color vision provides information regarding local retinal function which can not be evaluated by other color vision tests. Using this method, we investigated para-foveal color sensitivity in normal-tension glaucoma (NTG) and primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) eyes whose glaucomatous visual field change determined with the central 30-2 program of the Humphrey visual field analyzer was confined to either the upper or the lower hemifield. The examined eyes had no abnormalities in ocular media with best corrected visual acuity of 1.0 or higher, and age, refraction, mean deviation, and extent of visual field loss were matched between NTG and POAG eyes. In the para-foveal area of the spared hemifield, acquired blue-yellow dyschromatopsia was detected in 52.3% of the POAG eyes and in 11.3% of the NTG eyes (p < 0.02, chi 2-test), and in damaged hemifield, it was found in 76.1% of the POAG eyes and 80.7% of the NTG eyes. We suggest that visual function is more diffusely damaged in POAG than in NTG and that the perimetric color vision test is useful for detecting glaucomatous damage which cannot be detected with conventional light threshold measurements.