Glaucoma is one of the leading causes for blindness in industrialized countries. It is characterized by a progressive loss of retinal ganglion cells, morphological changes in the optic nerve head and a characteristic loss of visual field. It has been speculated for a long time that vascular factors may also contribute to the pathogenesis of the disease. This concept has been supported by several epidemiological studies showing that small retinal vessel calibre are associated with the disease. In the recent years tremendous enhancements in the field of optical coherence tomography has been achieved. These developments made it possible to visualize the retinal vasculature in a full depth manner without the application of an intravenous marker. The proposed study tests the hypothesis that patients with glaucoma show altered vascular morphology compared to healthy subjects. This is of importance because it may clarify the degree of vascular involvement in glaucoma.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Diagnosis of manifest open angle glaucoma as defined as pathological optic disc appearance, glaucoma hemifield test outside normal limits and/or untreated IOP ≥ 21 mmHg on at least three measurements in the medical history. Mean deviation in the visual field test < 10dB

Exclusion Criteria:

• Normal ophthalmic findings, IOP ≤ 20mmHg
• No history of elevated IOP
• No signs of glaucomatous disc damage

30 open angle glaucoma patients 30 healthy age- and sex matched controls