Glaucoma is a chronic eye disease in which there is damage to the optic nerve. This can affect the vision in many ways; a person may notice blurred patches or blind spots, difficulty with glare, problems with depth perception, and trouble seeing in dim light. Unfortunately, once these changes occur, they are irreversible.
Therefore, early detection, treatment, and lifelong monitoring of glaucoma are all very important in order to preserve vision. The good news is that current technology allows doctors to detect changes to the optic nerve at an early stage, before the onset of vision loss or worsening of the disease. There are also effective treatments to lower eye pressure and reduce the risk of further damage to the optic nerve.
There are two main subtypes of glaucoma – primary glaucoma, when there is no identifiable cause, and secondary glaucoma, where there is a known predisposing factor such as injury, or inflammation. There are several theories about the cause of primary glaucoma, and although we don’t know all the answers yet, we have identified several key risk factors:
- Elevated eye pressure (this is not the same as elevated blood pressure)
- Large optic nerve or thinning of the optic nerve
- Closed drainage angle of the eye
- Thinner than average cornea
- Family history (especially siblings)
- Race (People of African, Hispanic, and East Asian descent are predisposed to glaucoma).
No comments:
Post a Comment