What Is Glaucoma?

Glaucoma is an eye disease that can damage your optic nerve. The optic nerve supplies visual information to your brain from your eyes.

Glaucoma is usually, but not always, the result of abnormally high pressure inside your eye. Over time, the increased pressure can erode your optic nerve tissue, which may lead to vision loss or even blindness. If it’s detected early, you may be able to prevent additional vision loss.

Glaucoma exists in 5 major types (1) Open-Angle (Chronic) Glaucoma (2) Angle-Closure (Acute) Glaucoma (3) Congenital Glaucoma (4) Secondary Glaucoma (5) Normal Tension Glaucoma

Glaucoma cannot be prevented, but it’s still important to catch it early, so you can begin treatment that will help prevent it from getting worse. The best way to catch glaucoma early is to have an annual preventive eye care appointment with your Eye doctor. Simple tests performed during Routine Eye exam maybe able to detect damage from glaucoma.

The goal of glaucoma treatment is to reduce IOP to stop any additional vision loss. Typically, Specialty Eye MDs doctor will begin treatment with prescription eye drops. If these don’t work, more advanced treatment might be needed such as surgery.

If a blocked or slow channel is causing increased IOP, surgery to make a drainage path for fluids or destroy tissues that are responsible for the increased fluid.

Treatment for angle-closure glaucoma is different. This type of glaucoma is a medical emergency and requires immediate treatment to reduce eye pressure as quickly as possible. Medicines are usually attempted first, to reverse the angle closure., but this may be unsuccessful. A laser procedure called laser peripheral iridotomy may be performed. This procedure creates small holes in your iris to allow for increased fluid movement.