Measurement of the Depth of Anterior Chamber of Normal Eyes and its Clinical Implication

920 anterior chambers of normal eyes of 460 persons were measured with the aid of special depth measuring attachments of“900”slit lamp.The findings are as follows: 1.The average axial depth of anterior chamber of 576 eyes is 2.68 mm in individuals between 10 to 59 years of age. 2.The average axial depths of anterior chambers of individuals of different sexes and ages are shown in the following table:
It may be seen that the depth of the anterior chamber in men is deeper than women of the same age group.This may serve to explain that angle-closed glaucoma is more frequently seen in women than in men.
It also shows that the anterior chamber becomes graduaIiy shallower with aging.
3.Dark-room test is carried out in 26 eyes（13 individuals）with axial chamber depth below 2.1 mm.The ocular tension is found to be higher than normal（41.38mm Hg）in one eye and of border-line level in two eyes,indicating that the measurement of the depth of the anterior chamber is an important way in the early detection of angle-closed glaucoma.
4.The average depth in 10 cases,20 anterior chambers of angle-closed glaucomatous eyes is 1.75 mm.（less than 2.0 mm in all instances）,showing that the anterior chamber in angle-closed glaucoma is very shallow and such a chamber may be named as “shallow chamber”.Further examination for early diagnosis and management is strongly indicated whenever a“hallow chamber”is found.