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Abstract
A group of "senior citizens" was studied with respect to applanation pressures, water-provocative tonography, and steroid-provocative testing. The results showed that considerable numbers of elderly individuals demonstrate applanation pressures greater than or equal to 20 mm. Hg and Po/C ratios after water greater than 100, and yet have normal disks and normal fields. It was concluded that such testing should be interpreted with caution in the elderly individual. However, comparable percentages of responders to topical corticosteroids were found in these same elderly individuals as in younger age groups. In the older age groups, the homozygous nonresponders and the heterozygous responders to topical corticosteroids differed significantly as to their applanation pressures before steroids and their Po/C ratios after water.