What is Glaucoma?

 

What is Glaucome and How you Should Worry?

Glaucoma is an eye disease that steals your vision gradually. It usually has no symptoms and can result in sudden vision loss.

Without proper treatment, glaucoma can lead to blindness. The good news is that regular eye exams, early detection, and treatment can preserve sight. In order to understand glaucoma, we must first understand how the eye works.

In front of the eye is the cornea, which is the transparent part of the protective covering of the organ and that allows light to enter. The iris is the coloured part of your eye that contracts and expands to allow the pupil to let in the right amount of light, directing it towards the lens, which in turn focuses light on the retina (the inner lining of the eye). Nerve fibres in the retina carry light and images to the brain through the optic nerve.

The front part of the eye is filled with a clear fluid called intraocular fluid or aqueous humour that is manufactured by the ciliary body. This leaves the eye through the pupil and is then absorbed into the bloodstream through the eye's drainage system (formed by a mesh of drainage channels that is around the outer edge of the iris). If drainage is adequate, the pressure in the eye is kept at a normal level. The production, flow and drainage of this fluid is an active and continuous process necessary for the health of the eye.

The internal pressure of the eye (intraocular pressure or IOP) depends on the amount of fluid that is inside the eye. If the eye's drainage system is working properly, the fluid will flow freely and collect. Likewise, the production of aqueous humour in adequate quantities maintains the health of the eye. Your IOP can vary throughout the day, but it usually stays within a range that the organ can handle.

In most types of glaucoma, the eye's drainage system becomes clogged and intraocular fluid cannot drain. By accumulating, it causes an increase in pressure inside the eye that damages the very sensitive optic nerve, leading to loss of vision.

You have millions of nerve fibres that go from your retina to the optic nerve, which meet at the optic disc. As the pressure of the fluid inside your eye increases, it damages these very sensitive nerve fibres and they begin to die. When this happens, the optic disc begins to hollow, rejecting the fibres of the optic nerve, which will adopt the shape of a cup or curve. Keeping the pressure too high for too long can damage the optic nerve, resulting in loss of vision.

Is there another cause?
Elevated intraocular pressure was once thought to be the main cause of optic nerve damage. Although it is clearly a risk factor, we now know that other factors must play a role, as people with “normal” intraocular pressure can also suffer from loss glaucoma vision.

Glaucoma is usually present in both eyes, but intraocular pressure usually begins to build up in only one eye first. This damage can cause gradual changes in vision and, later, vision loss. Peripheral (side) vision is often affected first, so the change in your vision is usually small initially and you don't notice it. Over time, your central (direct) vision will also begin to lose.

What are the Symptoms?
In the most common form of glaucoma, the build-up of fluid pressure occurs slowly. Often there are no bothersome or painful symptoms. Symptoms can be more severe in the less common varieties of glaucoma, and include the following: 

●  Blurry vision

●  Eye and headache pain

●  Nausea and vomiting

●  The appearance of rainbow-coloured halos around bright lights

●  Sudden loss of vision

●  How is the fluid within my eyes different from my tears?

●  Aqueous humour is a clear, watery liquid that is continuously produced within the eye. It differs from the tears your eye produces. Tears are produced by glands outside the eye and moisten the outer surface of the eyeball.

 
Should I Worry?
Glaucoma can affect people of all ages, from infants to older adults. Although we are all at risk, those most at risk for glaucoma are those over the age of 60, relatives of people with glaucoma, people of African descent, diabetics, long-term steroid users, and people with intraocular pressure elevated (ocular hypertensive).

Researchers and doctors are still not sure why the eye's drainage channels stop working properly. What we do know is that glaucoma does not develop from reading a lot, reading in low light, diet, wearing contact lenses, or other daily activities. We also know that glaucoma is not contagious, not life-threatening, and rare. once causes blindness if caught early and treated correctly.

What can I do to prevent glaucoma?
Doctors recommend that screening for glaucoma be part of routine eye exams in children, adolescents and adults. All people should have comprehensive glaucoma screening exams around age 40, then every two or four years. If you are at higher risk of developing the disease, you should get screened every one to two years starting at age 35. You can use Azarga Eye Drops or Betagan Eye Drops, that you can buy online in the UK.

Vision loss caused by glaucoma is irreversible, but if it is detected early and treated carefully and consistently, vision can be preserved. Glaucoma can usually be controlled with medicine or surgery. If you are diagnosed with this disease, it is important that you follow a seamless treatment plan.