Objectives

It is clear that certain anatomical features of the eyeball are of importance in angle-closure glaucoma. Anterior chamber depth (Tornquist, 1953), corneal dimensions, lens thickness, and axial length (Sorsby, Sheridan, and Leary, I962; Sorsby and Fraser, I964) are genetically determined. It was therefore considered of interest to investigate these dimensions in patients with angle-closure glaucoma and in the first-degree relatives of patients with this condition. A similarity in these dimensions between patients and their relatives may explain a predisposition to, or risk of acquiring, the condition in these relatives, and conversely anydissimilarities many explain why many relatives do not become affected, thus clarifying the role of ocular dimensions in the aetiology of angle-closure glaucoma.