Simple glaucoma before the age of 30 years.

'Juvenile glaucoma' is a meaningless term which should not be used. Glaucoma in young subjects can be hydrophthalmus, secondary or simple glaucoma. In this paper, early simple glaucoma is described in 15 patients (8 males, 7 females) below the age of 30 years, starting in some subjects already at 8 years of age. Inheritance was dominant in 6 patients. Anticipation could be shown in 2 pedigrees through 4 and 5 generations, respectively. The course of the disease was severe in 8 patients, with intraocular pressures over 40 mm Hg and/or heavy functional loss. There were usually no subjective symptoms. The chamber angles were gonioscopically normal in all patients. Miotics were effective but did not normalize the intraocular pressure. Surgical treatment is discussed.