What is glaucoma in the eyes?
Glaucoma is an eye disease that can lead to blindness if not diagnosed and treated early. It consists of the progressive loss of the nerve fibers that form the optic nerve. As a result of the loss of these fibers, defects in the visual field develop, which may initially go unnoticed by the patient, but thanks to new techniques can be detected at an early stage.
Which is the most common?
Open-angle glaucoma is the most common form of glaucoma.
It is caused by slow obstruction of the drainage channels, which leads to an increase in ocular pressure.
What is acute glaucoma?
Acute or angle-closure glaucoma is a less common form of glaucoma.
It is caused by blockage of the drainage channels, resulting in a sudden increase in intraocular pressure.
This type of glaucoma develops rapidly and requires immediate medical attention.
What are the causes of glaucoma?
The vast majority of the time, glaucoma is associated with elevated intraocular pressure. At present, elevated intraocular pressure is the main risk factor for the development and progression of glaucoma. Not all patients with elevated intraocular pressure have glaucoma, there are patients who have high ocular pressure and yet the optic nerve is normal, therefore these patients do not have glaucoma but only ocular hypertension.
Other risk factors are: age (over 40 years old), family history of glaucoma, myopia, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases (arterial hypertension) and black race.
What is the treatment like?
The best treatment is early detection to prevent irreversible damage.
Since the damage caused by glaucoma cannot be recovered, treatment aims to stop the progression of existing lesions and prevent new lesions from appearing on the optic nerve.
It can be treated in several ways:
- Drugs in the form of eye drops.
- Laser
- Surgery
Glaucoma is usually controlled with one or two eye drops that lower the intraocular pressure. The laser can help the eye drops to control the pressure or it can be used instead of them. If this is not enough, we would have to opt for surgical techniques.
It is essential that the patient be aware of his disease and be consistent with treatment to prevent the glaucoma from progressing.