Clinical Experience of Exfoliation Syndrome

Six patients with exfoliation syndrome were seen in our glaucoma clinic. Four patients presented unilateral ocular involvement and the other 2 patients were bilaterally involved. Eight eyes had exfoliation material on the anterior surface of the lens and papillary border, and 7 eyes exhibited it on the anterior chamber angle. Sampaolesi’s line was detected in 4 eyes. Five patients (6 eyes) of 6 patients (8 eyes) with exfoliation exhbited an elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) exceeding 21 mmHg. Among them, 3 patients (3 eyes) had an extremely high maximum IOP, over 47 mmHg, and 2 patients (3 eyes) had a slightly elevated IOP, less than 26 mmHg during the follow-up period. Argon laser trabeculoplasty (ALT) was performed twice on each unilateral eye of the 2 patients on whom the inital trabeculectomy failed. However, longterm IOP control after laser treatment was not obtained in either case, which might be due to the extremely high prelaser IOP level, in excess of 40 mmHg.