What is glaucoma?
There are many forms of glaucoma which develop gradually with few warning signs. For this reason, you may not notice a significant change in your vision until the condition reaches an advanced stage.
Among the most common forms of glaucoma are open-angle glaucoma, angle-closure glaucoma, normal tension glaucoma, and pigmentary glaucoma.
What causes glaucoma?
Glaucoma is caused by damage to the optic nerve, which can lead to blind spots developing in the visual field. The nerve damage itself is usually linked to increased pressure that can be due to fluid build-up inside the eye. When there is too much of the fluid (aqueous humor) or drainage is not working properly, it cannot flow out fast enough and pressure increases.
Research has shown that glaucoma can run in families.
Symptoms of glaucoma
The glaucoma symptoms which you can experience usually depend on the type of glaucoma you have, and which stage the condition is at. Open-angle glaucoma can produce symptoms such as; blind spots in the side or central vision of both eyes, and tunnel vision. Acute angle closure glaucoma can produce symptoms such as: eye pain; tunnel vision; bad headaches; nausea; eye redness; blurred vision; and halos around lights.
Glaucoma can cause blindness if left untreated, and within 20 years around 15 per cent of people with glaucoma will become blind in one or both eyes.
Treatment options for glaucoma
Methods of diagnosis for glaucoma will usually include a full eye examination, as well as a review of your medical history. Your doctor may also perform other tests, such as: imaging tests and a dilated eye examination to test for optical nerve damage; tonometry (which measures intraocular pressure); pachymetry (which measures corneal thickness); gonioscopy (an inspection of the drainage angle); and a visual field test to check for the areas of the eye affected by vision loss.
While damage from glaucoma can't be reversed, treatment can help to prevent vision loss. You may be given prescription eye medications such as prostaglandins, beta blockers, alpha-adrenergic agonists, carbonic anhydrase inhibitors, or rho kinase inhibitors.
For cases in which eyedrops have not succeeded in reducing the eye pressure to the level desired, your doctor may prescribe oral medication. This would typically be a carbonic anhydrase inhibitor.
Surgical techniques can also be used to improve fluid drainage in the eye and reduce pressure. These include: laser therapy, for open-angle glaucoma, which is performed in a doctor's office, to open channels which are closed in the trabecular meshwork; filtering surgery, which creates an opening in the sclera (white of your eye) in order to remove a section of the trabecular meshwork; drainage tubes, which use a small tube shunt to drain excess fluid from the eye; and minimally invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS) which uses a number of techniques to lower eye pressure, typically requiring a shorter recovery time than filtering surgery or drainage tubes.
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