Glaucoma

Glaucoma in Ahmedabad, Gujarat 

Glaucoma is an eye disease where the nerve connecting the eye to the brain is damaged or affected usually due to high intraocular pressure (IOP)

It is a group of disorders like

OPEN ANGLE GLAUCOMA – Most common type, has no symptoms other than slow vision loss.

ANGLE CLOSURE GLAUCOMA – Acute angle closure glaucoma is a medical emergency. Symptoms include redness of the eyes, pain and visual disturbances. Patients do get headaches and vomiting too. In chronic angle closure glaucoma, eye channels or angles through which aqueous humour gets drained and closes slowly either wholly or partially.

NORMAL TENSION GLAUCOMA – IOP is normal in this type of glaucoma. The cause is still unknown.

SECONDARY GLAUCOMA – Here raised intraocular pressure is secondary to some other conditions like inflammation /uveitis in the eye, silicon oil in the vitreous cavity, trauma to the eye

STEROID-INDUCED GLAUCOMA – It is due to topical or systemic steroid usage. In most cases, it occurs because of long-term use of steroids.

CONGENITAL GLAUCOMA – this type of glaucoma is by birth. Various reasons could be there for this like infections during the early stage of pregnancy, developmental structural changes or syndromic.

FAQs

It is progressive ocular disease which leads to permanent loss of vision. Your eye pressure ( IOP ) is generally high in glaucoma

People with a family history of glaucoma, more than 40 years of age, steroid usage, trauma, uveitis patients.

Because it usually causes permanent loss of vision before it is even detected. In the early stages, it usually has no symptoms. By the time patient realises a loss of vision, there is already a large amount of nerve damage has occurred.

It is detected only when you undergo an eye check-up.

There are a number of ways your eye doctor can diagnose glaucoma like

Tonometry – Instrument to measure IOP i.e. eye pressure.

OCT – It is a nerve scan for glaucoma

Perimetry – it is a visual field test

So it is important to get regular eye checkups

People over 40 years ago – as the risk of glaucoma increases with age

Family history of glaucoma

Patients who are on steroids.

Yes, it is treatable but whatever damage has happened cannot be reversed. That is why it is important to diagnose glaucoma in the early stage to prevent further damage of the optic nerve so as to prevent further visual loss.

There is a medical treatment in the form of eye drops. Your doctor will decide and put you on either one or more topical eye drops. When your eye pressure doesn’t get controlled with medical treatment, surgical options like trabeculectomy, drainage valves or newer surgeries like MIGS ( micro-invasive glaucoma surgery) are there. There are certain laser procedures also to open up drainage channels. Your doctor will discuss with you the appropriate treatment for you.