Forty-three patients who initially presented with Krikenberg's spindles but with no glaucomatous field defects were observed for an average of 5.8 years in an attempt to evaluate the prognostic implication of spindle presence. Twenty-two of the patients had been followed for a minimum of five years. Analysis of the study population revealed that there were more women than men, (26 vs. 17), the women were older than the men, and more women had positive glucose tolerance tests (25% vs. 0). Only two of the patients, both women, developed glaucomatous field defects during the period of observation. Thus, the presence of a Krukenberg's spindle in a patient with no visual field defect is not a particularly ominous sign.