If you regularly go to the ophthalmologist or optician-optometrist to have check-ups and check the state of your visual health, IOP or Intraocular Pressure will surely be familiar to you. It is one of the many measurements that are made in reviews. Glaucoma is difficult to detect, so it is important to take care of visual health and have frequent check-ups.
But what is glaucoma and why is it important to control IOP? To begin with, it is an indicator of the possible existence of glaucoma.
What is glaucoma?
This disease is also known as “the silent thief of sight” since the patient usually realizes that they are losing their vision when the glaucoma is very advanced, so we recommend that you seek regular eye care.
Glaucoma is an eye infection that influences the optic nerve. The optic nerve is the nerve that connects the eye to the brain and sends all the information about what we see. It is a chronic, irreversible condition and the second leading cause of blindness in our world. Approximately 50% of people with glaucoma are not aware of it.
Glaucoma consists of a deterioration of the optic nerve (the one in charge of carrying the images captured by the retina to the brain) generally caused by an increase in intraocular pressure.
There are a large number of types of glaucoma, but these are the most common:
- Open-angle glaucoma: It occurs when the drainage area of the acute humor does not work properly and produces an increase in intraocular pressure.
- Angle-closure glaucoma: This type of glaucoma occurs when the iridocorneal angle is too narrow and the aqueous humor cannot flow out, which also causes increased pressure.
- Congenital glaucoma: This is a minority disease and manifests itself in the first months or years of life. It can cause blindness in children who suffer from it.
- Normal pressure glaucoma: It occurs in people who have intraocular pressure within normal levels but still have optic nerve lesions very similar to those of other types of glaucoma.
What are the symptoms of glaucoma?
Glaucoma is a silent disease because symptoms do not appear until the disease is already too advanced. That is why prevention through regular check-ups is crucial to detect it in time.
It usually occurs in the first instance, a loss of lateral vision. But this loss is not detected naturally because the brain is capable of compensating for this loss of vision by combining images captured by both eyes.
Depending on the stage of the disease and the type of glaucoma, some of the following symptoms can be detected in the middle and advanced stages :
- Irregular blind spots in central and/or peripheral vision.
- tunnel vision
- Headache and blurred vision
- dizziness and nausea
- Halos when looking at lights
- eye redness
- eye pain
What are the causes of glaucoma?
The causes of glaucoma are not entirely clear since it is still a very unknown disease. Ocular hypertension is considered to be a risk factor, but not all cases of glaucoma have ocular hypertension, and many people with elevated intraocular pressure do not have glaucoma.
Optic nerve injuries could be due to several factors.
Since the causes are unknown and the symptoms do not appear until the disease is very advanced, detection through periodic check-ups becomes much more crucial.
However, there are some factors that are considered risk:
- Genetic predisposition and hereditary factors: If someone in your close family has suffered from glaucoma, it is considered a risk factor, especially if the type of glaucoma is open-angle.
- People over the age of 40: People over the age of 40 are more likely to develop glaucoma.
- Myopia or hyperopia: If you have more than seven diopters, either myopia or hyperopia, it is advisable to have regular check-ups to check the status of your intraocular pressure.
- Eye injuries: If you have suffered a blow to the eyes, it could also affect intraocular pressure and the optic nerve and therefore lead to glaucoma.
- Narrow iridocorneal angle: This is the angle between the cornea and the iris. If it is too narrow it can also lead to glaucoma.
- Black or Asian race: It seems that people of black or Asian race are more predisposed to suffer from glaucoma.
How to prevent glaucoma and treatments
Glaucoma can cause irreversible damage before symptoms begin to be noticed. Therefore, early diagnosis is crucial to prevent it from developing and evolving rapidly and leading to blindness. Follow these important tips shared by JLR Eye hospital which will help to prevent and treat glaucoma.
The main thing is to go regularly to the eye doctor so that he can check that everything is in order with the optic nerve.
If elevated IOP is detected, the ophthalmologist may suggest treatments such as hypotensive eye drops or tablets to start correcting excess pressure in the eye.
If glaucoma is detected early, a series of treatments can be resorted to, either with laser or surgery, which, for the most part, aim to favor the drainage of aqueous humor (liquid responsible for eye tone) or even reduce its production.
Some of these treatments are laser iridotomy, trabeculoplasty, micro-invasive surgery, or filtering surgery.
Although glaucoma is considered a chronic and irreversible disease, these treatments, as long as the diagnosis has been made early, can improve the patient’s prognosis and even prevent blindness.
As you can see, and now that you know what glaucoma is, regular check-ups of your visual health are vital when it comes to detecting possible diseases such as glaucoma, which do not present symptoms until it is too late. Prevention is the best strategy and taking care of your visual health is much easier than it seems.
Conclusion
Getting older has a price and the eyes are no exception. The natural ageing process puts us at risk for various eye diseases, even if we have never had a poor vision or symptoms of eye problems.
Cataracts and glaucoma are the two main causes of blindness in the world and both are related to increasing age. If you have any problems you should contact the best eye surgeon in your area.
