Glaucoma is an optic neuropathy associated with
characteristic structural damage to optic nerve and associated visual
dysfunction, which are seen clinically as enlargement of optic disc cup and
loss of field of vision. Although not
"curable", glaucoma is treatable and the primary objective of
glaucoma therapy is to prevent progressive vision loss, disability, and
blindness. Glaucoma affects side vision first (peripheral vision) and as it
progresses, central vision is lost. There are 3 main types; open angle
glaucoma, angle closure glaucoma, congenital/hereditary. Glaucoma is becoming
an increasingly important cause of blindness, as the world’s population ages.is
second leading cause of blindness globally, after cataract. Is even greater
public health challenge than cataract, because the blindness it cause
irreversible.
Your eye doctor will use drops to open (he’ll call it
dilate) your pupils. Then he’ll test your vision and examine your eyes. He’ll
check your optic nerve, and if you have glaucoma, it will look a certain way.
He may take photographs of the nerve to help him track your disease over time.
He’ll do a test called
tonometry to check your eye pressure. He’ll also do a visual
field test, and/or OCT, if necessary, to figure out if you've lost your side,
or peripheral, vision. Glaucoma tests are painless and take very little time.
No. But if you diagnose and treat it early, you can
control the disease.
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