CORNEAL HYSTERESIS, A GLAUCOMA RISK FACTOR INDEPENDENT OF THE INTRAOCULAR PRESSURE

Recent studies have shown a relationship between corneal hysteresis (CH) and intraocular pressure(IOP) revealing that a low CH associated to a high 10P represents a risk factor in glaucoma patients or suspects. CH has also been correlated to glaucoma severity and visual field defects. At this point, we have to ask ourselves if the low value of CH is related to the high IOP that reflects on the corneal biomechanical properties or is secondary to the glaucomatous damage and corneal hysteresis represents an independent risk factor in glaucoma. In this study we tried to eliminate the IOP factor and to identify whether CH changes in primary open angle glaucoma (POAG), ocular hypertension (OH) or normal eyes when we examine them at the same values of the 10P. Many authors have studied corneal biomechanical properties, but there are no other study that separates IOP and CH showing that corneal biomechanical properties have an independent role in glaucoma patients regardless of the IOP.