Glaucoma is the ophthalmology condition that damages eye’s optic nerve. If this is not treated in early stage it becomes worse over time. This optic nerve damage often caused by abnormally high pressure in eye. Glaucoma is one of leading causes of blindness for people over age of 60.
Sign and symptoms of glaucoma condition depends upon the type and stage. Patient with open-angle glaucoma don’t have any symptoms. If signs appears, it usually late in disease. This is so glaucoma is called as “silent thief of vision”. The main sign is loss of side and peripheral vision.
Symptoms of angle-closure glaucoma appears faster. Some symptoms includes-
Seeing dark halos around lights
Vision loss
Redness in your eye
Eye that looks hazy (particularly in infants)
Upset stomach or vomiting
Eye pain
Fluid insides our eyes, flows out from our eyes through mesh like channel and this channel gets blocked or eye producing too much fluid. It is inherited condition. Less common causes of glaucoma are chemical injury or blunt to eye, acute eye infection, blocked blood vessels inside eyes, and inflammatory conditions.
Some risk factors includes-
Having high internal eye pressure (intraocular pressure)
Being over age 60
Any family history of glaucoma
Any medical conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and sickle cell anemia
Any corneal thinning condition
Any eye injury or certain types of eye surgery
Taking corticosteroid medications, especially eyedrops, for a long time.
There are mainly two types of glaucoma.
1. Open-angle Glaucoma: This is common type of glaucoma condition. It is also known as wide angle glaucoma. In this condition drain structure in eyes appears fine but flow doesn’t come out properly.
2. Angle-closure Glaucoma: This glaucoma condition is also known as acute or chronic angle closure or narrow angle glaucoma. In this condition drain space between iris and cornea becomes too narrow, which can cause build up of sudden pressure in eyes. It also leads to development of cataracts.
There are some other glaucoma types include secondary glaucoma, normal tension glaucoma and pigmentory glaucoma.
Eye doctor will test patient’s eye for vision checking. Doctor will also check optic nerve for any signs of glaucoma. Doctor will perform some tests including- Inspecting the drainage angle, visual field test, tonometry i.e. measuring intraocular pressure.
Treatment of glaucoma depends upon the type, severity and any family history. Glaucoma treatment involve surgery, eye drops, medications, laser surgery.
Eye drops with medication prescribed to lower the intraocular pressure of eyes. Sometime patient become careless and don’t follow doctor’s recommendation regarding eye drops. Eye drop can prevent permanent damage. Doctor may prescribed some oral medications, which can improve drainage or slower down creation of fluid in your eye.
Other treatments include laser therapy and various surgical procedures. This surgical and laser therapies deliberate to improve the drainage of fluid within the eye, thereby lowering pressure.
If patients is diagnosed with acute-angle closure glaucoma, patient should visit eye doctor urgently for treatment. This generally will require both medication and laser or other surgical procedures.
Some lifestyle tips like eating healthy diet, exercise safely, caffeine intake limit, take prescribed medicine, drink moderate water, take good amount of fluids, etc.
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