Glaucoma symptoms
El Glaucoma It is a set of eye disorders that affect the optic nerve of the eye causing irreversible damage to vision. Most of the time this damage is caused by having high levels of intraocular pressure (IOP), however, there are patients with glaucoma who do not present changes in eye pressure.
The symptoms of glaucoma vary according to the type of glaucoma, in general, open-angle glaucoma does not usually show signs in its initial phase. On the other hand, closed-angle glaucoma, being much more aggressive, causes symptoms from the beginning of the disease.
Glaucoma symptoms
El Glaucoma It is a set of eye disorders that affect the optic nerve of the eye causing irreversible damage to vision. Most of the time this damage is caused by having high levels of intraocular pressure (IOP), however, there are patients with glaucoma who do not present changes in eye pressure.
The symptoms of glaucoma vary according to the type of glaucoma, in general, open-angle glaucoma does not usually show signs in its initial phase. On the other hand, closed-angle glaucoma, being much more aggressive, causes symptoms from the beginning of the disease.
What is it?
We use the term glaucoma to refer to the set of eye conditions that progressively damage the optic nerve. When a patient has glaucoma, he has some problem in the aqueous humor drainage system that raises intraocular pressure levels.
High levels of intraocular pressure or constant fluctuations in it severely damage the optic nerve. As a consequence, the nerve stop working properly and stops sending information to the brain, leaving the patient's vision affected.
Glaucoma can be caused by clogging of drainage channels, in the narrowing of the iridocorneal angle and in other systemic or ocular affections, such as uveitis or pseudoexfoliative syndrome. Recall that the iridocorneal angle is the angle between the cornea and the iris.
different types of glaucoma, but the most common is open angle glaucoma. This condition is so named because patients with it have an iridocorneal angle ampmessy and open, as it should be. In the angle-closure glaucoma the iridocorneal angle is very narrow and can block or hinder the exit of the aqueous humor out of the eye.
Open-angle glaucoma is a disease that it progresses very slowly and lasts a lifetimeWhile angle-closure glaucoma is less frequent, but it is more aggressive and is considered a medical emergency that must be attended to immediately.
Diagnosis
Glaucoma can be diagnosed during a routine eye examination. With the help of a tonometer we measure the intraocular pressure of the eye to know if the patient has high levels of it. There are many types of tonometer, nowadays the most used one releases a breath of air over the eye structure and calculates the IOP immediately, this tonometer is called air tonometer.
When intraocular pressure levels are high, we will suspect that there is a failure of the drainage system of the eye or that the production of aqueous humor is excessive. He normal IOP value should be less than 21 mmHg.
When detecting elevated intraocular pressure, the ophthalmologist must carry out a series of optic nerve function tests and examine the entire ocular structure in detail to determine the origin of the glaucoma and what type of glaucoma the patient presents. Some of the diagnostic tests we perform to diagnose glaucoma are:
- Campimetry.
- Ophthalmoscopy
- Laser scanning polarimetry.
- Gonioscopy.
- Biomicroscopy to study the iridocorneal angle.
- FDT.
- GDX.
Glaucoma symptoms
Glaucoma is a silent diseaseIn fact, it is known as "the silent thief of vision" or "silent blindness". Very rarely does glaucoma show signs and symptoms in its initial phase, in general, when the patient suspects that something is wrong, it is because they already have some visual failure.
Open-angle glaucoma
Open angle glaucoma is silent glaucoma. In fact, 50% of patients with this disease they don't know they have it. In the initial phase this type of glaucoma does not show any symptoms. Only when the disease is in an advanced stage the patient may notice irregular blind spots in their peripheral and central vision as well as tunnel vision in the campor visual
Closed angle glaucoma
Angle-closure glaucoma it is the least frequent type of glaucoma, but the most aggressive. The disease progresses so rapidly that the patient have symptoms right away. This condition is a medical emergency that can be recognized through the following signs:
- Eye pain
- Very bad headache.
- Colored halos around the lights.
- Blurry vision.
- Redness of the eyes
- Nausea and vomiting.
Normal tension glaucoma
Patients who have normal tension glaucoma have regular levels of intraocular pressure. However, they have obvious symptoms of glaucoma such as functional damage to the optic nerve and blind spots in the campor visual
Glaucoma is a disease that must be treated to prevent the patient from suffering permanent vision loss. The damage that glaucoma causes to the optic nerve is irreversible, in fact, most patients with this disease usually lose vision in one eye approximately 20 years after diagnosis.
Glaucoma risk factors
There are risk factors that make a person more prone to developing glaucoma, the most common are:
- Have more than 60 years.
- Having presented high intraocular pressure levels during an ophthalmological examination.
- Being African American, Asian, or Hispanic.
- Suffer high myopia o farsightedness.
- Having a family history of glaucoma.
- Having suffered an eye trauma.
- Having undergone eye surgery.
- Suffer some diseases such as heart failure, diabetes, hypertension and anemia.
- Have a thin cornea in the center.
- Using steroid eye drops for a long time.
Can glaucoma be prevented?
Glaucoma is a disease that it can not be helped. However, there are some actions that we can put into practice to reduce the risk of developing glaucoma, let's see:
- Visit the ophthalmologist to thoroughly examine the entire ocular structure allows to diagnose glaucoma in time. Ideally, go to the ophthalmologist every 3 years if you are under 40, once a year if you are 40 or older.
- It tienes family history of glaucoma you should do your eye checks more frequently.
- Cardiovascular physical activity helps prevent high levels of ocular hypertension and blood. Ideally, do 45 minutes of cardiovascular exercise up to date.
