Glaucoma is an insidious and incurable disease. The bad news: it develops asymptomatically and leads to blindness, good: thanks to special tests, it can be detected and its development stopped.
Glaucoma (from Latin glaucoma) is a hereditary disease, so if someone in our family suffered from it, we must check whether it is also a threat. It is worth completing the test developed by the Polish Society for Glaucoma Prevention, available at: www.zbadajoczy.pl. The test result will tell you if there are indications for glaucoma testing. In addition, you should ask for an eye examination for this each time you visit an ophthalmologist.
Optic Nerve Damage and Glaucoma
Glaucoma causes irreversible damage to the optic nerve at the back of the eye, a very important nerve because it carries light stimuli to the brain and therefore allows us to see. The eye is shaped like a sphere filled with a watery liquid that is constantly produced in the eye. It leaves the eyeball at a place known as the filtration angle. If there is an obstruction in the outflow path, the aqueous fluid accumulates in the eye and the intraocular pressure increases, which in turn leads to pressure on the optic nerve and, consequently, to its disappearance. Another cause of the death of the optic nerve may be its ischemia as a result of atherosclerotic changes, i.e. narrowing of the blood vessels supplying it to it.
Glaucoma diagnosis and treatment
There are several types of tests to diagnose the disease and its course. You should go to an ophthalmologist who will select the appropriate tests. Some of them are painless, some are performed with anesthesia. The course of the disease depends on the structure of the eye. Most people have a wide angle of filtration where the fluid comes out of the eye. With such a structure, the symptoms of glaucoma are invisible for a long time. About 20% of people have a narrow angle of percolation. Then the patient experiences severe headaches and eye aches, accompanied by blurred vision.
First of all, it should be remembered that glaucoma is an incurable disease. A visual impairment that has already occurred cannot be undone. However, early diagnosis of the disease stops its development. The goal of glaucoma treatment is to stop the disease from progressing, specifically the destruction of the optic nerve. In glaucoma caused by too much pressure inside the eye, patients are given pressure-lowering tablets. In other types of glaucoma, medications are used to narrow the pupils. In some cases, surgical and laser procedures involving excision of certain tissue elements are necessary. These treatments are very effective.
Glaucoma prophylaxis
The only way to avoid glaucoma is to have regular checkups with an ophthalmologist. Only a doctor is able to detect the disease and administer the appropriate treatment. After the age of 30, it is recommended to undergo preventive examinations every 2 years, and every year after the age of 40. Another step in lowering the risk of the disease is taking care of low cholesterol levels, too high levels of it promotes glaucoma, because cholesterol plaques are deposited in the blood vessels, which causes the destruction of the optic nerve.
Text: Halina Pilonis