Glaucoma, popularly known as glaucoma or black water disease, is damage to the optic nerves due to increased intraocular pressure. As a result, the visual field of the person gradually narrows. The person begins to see as if he were looking through binoculars. Glaucoma, an insidious disease that makes itself known in the last stages of the disease, can cause irreparable damage to the optic nerve when diagnosed late.
Who gets glaucoma?
People with a family history of glaucoma, over 40 years of age, intraocular inflammatory diseases (uveitis), long-term cortisone users, myopia and diabetes The risk of developing glaucoma increases in patients with glaucoma.
The causes of glaucoma what are they?
Due to the blockage in the outflow tract of the fluid secreted in the eye and providing nutrition to the eye. intraocular pressure rises. In this case, the nutrition of the tissues in the eye, especially the nerve layer, is disrupted. It causes irreversible damage to the optic nerves.
What are the symptoms of glaucoma?
Seeing rings around lights can cause blurred vision from time to time and sometimes headache. However, the patient may rarely feel these findings. Because there are many causes of headaches. It may not give any symptoms. In the advanced stages of vision loss, the patient may feel. However, vision loss is the last stage of the disease. At this stage, vision loss is irreversible. For these reasons, people should have an eye examination once a year. Measuring eye pressure alone is not sufficient for detecting eye pressure. An eye examination should also be done.
In the examination, we perform some tests that show the condition of the optic nerves in patients with high eye pressure. We can detect narrowing or loss in the visual field due to glaucoma with the visual field test. We can measure nerve fiber thicknesses with eye tomography, which takes sections from the nerve layer. We can detect tissue loss or damage in the optic nerve.
Glaucoma is seen in 3% of the society. It occurs in two types. 99% open angle type, 1% closed angle. The open-angle type is more dangerous because it has an insidious course. Closed-angle type sudden decrease in vision, It presents with severe eye pain and redness.
Sometimes, if the eye pressure is higher than normal, such as 25-30, but normal findings are obtained in our tests, we call this condition as ocular hypertension. We do not say that these people have glaucoma. We do not give treatment, but we check more often as it may be a glaucoma candidate in the future.
Sometimes, the opposite situation may occur in what we call low pressure glaucoma. Although the eye pressure is between 15-20, we start treatment if there is loss of visual field and signs of damage to the optic nerve in the tomography.
In summary;
Glaucoma is the second preventable blindness in the world. is the reason. The only way to deal with this insidious disease; It is an eye doctor checkup at least once a year in order to detect glaucoma early before visual field losses occur.
Read: 0
