What is glaucoma?
Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that can cause vision loss and blindness by damaging a nerve in the back of your eye called the optic nerve.
The symptoms usually start slowly that you fail to notice them. Some may be sudden but relatively less common. The only way to find out if you have glaucoma is to get a comprehensive dilated eye exam.
There’s no cure for glaucoma, but early treatment can often stop the progressive damage and protect your vision.
What are the types of glaucoma?
Glaucoma is a heterogenic group of eye diseases, but the most common type in India is open-angle glaucoma that’s what most people mean when they talk about glaucoma. Other types are less common, like angle-closure glaucoma and congenital glaucoma.
What are the symptoms of glaucoma?
At first, glaucoma doesn’t usually have any symptoms. That’s why half of people with glaucoma don’t even know they have it.
Loss of vision progresses very slowly, usually starting with your side (peripheral) vision — especially the part of your vision that’s closest to your nose. Because it happens so slowly, many people can’t tell that their vision is changing at first.
As the disease progresses, you may start to notice that you can’t see things off to the side anymore. Without treatment, glaucoma can eventually cause blindness.
Do I have risk of glaucoma?
Anyone can get glaucoma, but some people are at higher risk. You’re at higher risk if you:
- Age more than 60?
- Have a family history of glaucoma
- History of eye injury
- History of diabetes and hypertension
Talk with your doctor about your risk for glaucoma, and ask how often you need to get checked. If you’re at higher risk, you need to get a comprehensive dilated eye exam every 1 to 2 years.
Role of Regular eye checkups:
It is by far the only way to determine the risk of glaucoma. Glaucoma in many cases produces no symptoms. Hence, regular eye checkups are the only way to detect glaucoma and prevent visual loss in the long run.
Ophthalmologists check the eye pressure, examine the optic nerve, and perform visual field tests to detect glaucoma. Early detection of glaucoma provides an opportunity for early treatment, which can prevent or delay vision loss.
Treatment
Treatment in early stages involves eye drops or laser as deemed effective by the eye doctor. Eye drops reduce the pressure by either reducing the secretion of fluids in the eye or increasing the outflow from the eye. The laser opens up the blocked meshwork channels to facilitate outflow of fluid from the eye. In severe cases surgery may the first option.
Lifestyle modification to reduce systemic risk factors such diabetes and hypertension also help in better control of eye pressure.
Glaucoma is a silent blinding disease which can be detected early by regular eye checkups and treated appropriately to prevent visual loss.