Sachin Verma
2 posts
Jul 05, 2021
9:04 AM
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What is Glaucoma?
Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of preventable blindness and is often called the "sneak thief" of sight because the most common type causes no symptoms until vision is already damaged. That's why the best way to prevent vision loss from glaucoma is to know your risk factors and have medical eye examinations at appropriate intervals.
Read : Causes and Symptoms of Eales Disease
What causes glaucoma?
Many people know that glaucoma has something to do with pressure inside the eye - the intraocular pressure (IOP). Pressure builds up in the eye when the clear liquid which normally flows in and out of the eye, is prevented from draining properly. The resulting increase in pressure within the eye can damage the optic nerve. Ophthalmologists used to think that high intraocular pressure was the main cause of optic nerve damage in glaucoma but we now know that even people with "normal" IOP can experience vision loss from glaucoma - so-called "normal tension glaucoma". Elevated IOP is still considered a major risk factor for glaucoma, though, because studies have shown that the higher the IOP is, the more likely optic nerve damage is to occur.
Symptoms
Most people who have glaucoma don't notice any symptoms until they begin to lose some vision.
As optic nerve fibers are damaged by glaucoma, small blind spots may begin to develop, usually in the side - or peripheral - vision. Many people don't notice the blind spots until significant optic nerve damage has already occurred. If the entire nerve is destroyed, blindness results.
Open Angle Glaucoma and Angle Closure
Open Angle Glaucoma
The most common form of glaucoma is open-angle glaucoma. In open-angle glaucoma, the eye fluid, that normally flows through the pupil into the front section of the eye's interior, cannot get through the eye's filtration area to the normal drainage canals. This causes a buildup of pressure in the eye (intraocular pressure, or IOP), which can damage the optic nerve and lead to vision loss.
"Normal (or low) tension" glaucoma is an unusual and poorly understood form of the disease. In this type of glaucoma, the optic nerve is damaged even though the patient's intraocular pressure is consistently within a range usually considered normal.
Childhood glaucoma is rare, and starts in infancy, childhood or adolescence.
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