Reading test in glaucoma.

ALAN HIGGITT AND REDMOND SMITH From the Glaucoma Clinic, Institute of Ophthalmology, University of London Director of Research: Sir Stewart Duke-Elder LITTLE attention has been paid to the effect of reading on the tension of the glaucomatous eye. The first brief reference to the subject is by Gradle (1931): The reading test is still less likely to be positive (than the water-drinking test), but is of very definite value when it is so. The patient is told to concentrate upon any form of reading, preferably fine print at a close range, and the tension is then measured after forty-five minutes. When positive the increase in tension will seldom be more than 10-15 mm. Hg. Several authors (Duke-Elder, 1940; Sugar, 1951) quote this paper but give no data of their own on the matter.