Eye Health: Glaucoma

Glaucoma is an eye disease caused by a buildup of intraocular pressure (IOP). Your eyes have clear liquid that flows in and out, but if you have glaucoma, this liquid doesn’t drain properly, causing this buildup of IOP pressure. Glaucoma is a disease of the optic nerve, which is made up of nerve fibers and transmits images from the eye to your brain your optometrist or ophthalmologist could help you.

Types of Glaucoma

As glaucoma progresses, it damages more and more of your optic nerve fibers, leading to vision loss. In many cases, people don’t know that they have glaucoma until they experience vision loss. While glaucoma can be controlled, it can’t be cured. With primary open-angle glaucoma, the fluid can’t effectively flow back out of your eye. Angle-closure glaucoma occurs when the iris of the eye closes off the drainage angle completely, causing an increase in IOP pressure and damage to the optic nerve. Acute angle-closure glaucoma is considered an emergency, as this sudden buildup of fluid causes an increase in IOP and can damage the optic nerve or lead to vision loss in a very short period of time. Unlike other types of glaucoma, acute angle-closure glaucoma causes symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and eye pain your optometrist or ophthalmologist could help you. .

If you have a condition known as ocular hypertension, which is a result of high ocular pressure, your risk of developing glaucoma increases.Your optometrist or ophthalmologist may want to lower your IOP as a preventative measure. However, you don’t need to have high IOP to experience glaucoma. Normal-tension glaucoma causes damage to the optic nerve, even though the person’s IOP is normal. In this case, your eye health professional your optometrist or ophthalmologist could help you. may recommend lowering your IOP to slow the progression of the disease.

Glaucoma Treatment

Glaucoma treatment is centered around lowering your IOP in order to prevent further vision loss. Drops are the first line of treatment of glaucoma your ophtholomolgist could help you to diagnise the conditon.  What’s really important to remember is that drops are not going to make you see better - they might even make your eye a little red or irritated. The purpose of glaucoma drops is to lower the pressure. So, you won't notice any effects right away if you don’t take your drops, but it’s really important to use them regularly to prevent your glaucoma from getting worse. 

If your risk of losing your vision is high, your optometrist or ophthalmologist may recommend laser treatment or surgery. Your eye doctor will want to see you every three to six months to screen for any changes.

Talk to your eye doctor or ophthalmologist   if you'd like more information on glaucoma. 

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Glaucoma is a group of conditions that damage the optic nerve in the eye. Glaucoma worsens over time and can lead to blindness. A local Ophthalmologist  can help with early diagnosis and treatment is essential; glaucoma treatment may include pills, eye drops and surgery (laser or traditional). Get the answers you need to take control of your health from a  Local Ophthalmologist  or an local Optometrist our up-to-date, complementary glaucoma resources.

  Healthy eyes depend on regular visits to your optometrist for eye exams, and if necessary, an ophthalmologist for certain eye conditions and surgeries like diabetic retinopathy . You can also protect your eyesight with proper nutrition, eating foods that contain the right vitamins. Local Optometrists may prescribe eyeglasses and contact lenses, provide laser eye surgery consultations, and test for diseases.  Local Ophthalmologist  can help with many facts of eye diseases. Getting a referral from your optometrist to a local ophthalmologist is crucial to eye care.