A controlled five-year follow-up study of laser trabeculoplasty as primary therapy for open-angle glaucoma.

We followed up 32 eyes of 32 patients with early glaucoma (22 with capsular glaucoma and ten with simple glaucoma) who received laser trabeculoplasty as a primary therapy. These eyes were compared with a matched control group of 32 eyes treated with medication initially. The success rate (intraocular pressure below 22 mm Hg with laser alone or medication alone) at five years was 50% (16 of 32 eyes) in the laser-treated group and 22% (seven of 32 eyes) in the control group (P less than .02). The control group required more modifications of their therapy to control intraocular pressure. The neuroretinal rim area in the control eyes decreased 2.5 times as much as in the laser group (P = .017). Changes in the Friedmann visual fields did not differ significantly between the two groups.