What is glaucoma?
Glaucoma is a disease of the optic nerve. One of its most prominent characteristics is that it is asymptomatic. The patient progressively loses peripheral vision until only central vision remains, which can even lead to total loss of vision.
Is ocular hypertension and glaucoma the same thing?
The normal intraocular pressure should not exceed 21 mmHg; if it is exceeded, it is considered ocular hypertension. Glaucoma is damage to the optic nerve, which manifests itself with a loss of peripheral vision.
How is glaucoma diagnosed?
The first step is to know the patient’s intraocular pressure; if it exceeds 21 mmHg, there is a greater risk of optic nerve damage. To observe if there is any damage in the optic nerve we have two types of tests, the functional tests (visual field), which measures the patient’s peripheral vision; and the structural tests (Optical Coherence Tomography-OCT of the optic nerve), which measures the nerve fibers of the optic nerve.
All these tests are of interest at the time of diagnosis and it is convenient to repeat them periodically to try to see if there is progression or not of the disease.
What is the medical treatment of glaucoma?
When we decide to treat a patient, we start with medical treatment with eye drops to lower intraocular pressure. The drugs are increasingly more effective and with better results.
Is there a surgical treatment for glaucoma?
When the disease progresses, despite medical treatment, we have to move on to surgical treatment; from perforating and non-perforating filtering surgeries to the new minimally invasive glaucoma surgery techniques.
With the new CYCLO G6 laser, the great advantage is that it is an extraocular procedure, avoiding the risk of inflammation, infections or intraocular hemorrhages. It is performed on an outpatient basis, the patient goes home after the surgery. The decrease in intraocular pressure achieved with this CYCLO G6 laser is progressive, being its maximum effect around one month after surgery.
We would like to emphasize the importance of periodic ophthalmologic check-ups, especially after the age of 40, where an early diagnosis can be made and thus preserve the greatest amount of visual field and vision.