Assessment of Optic Nerve Head Pallor in Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma Patients and Healthy Subjects.

Pallor determined by this method was higher in POAG patients than in healthy subjects and increased in patients with advanced disease. ONH pallor might result from a reduced blood perfusion of the ONH or tissue atrophy accompanied by vessel obliteration in POAG. By measuring ONH pallor additional diagnostic information about the vitality of the neuroretinal rim might be gained in glaucoma patients.