The most prevalent kind of glaucoma is open-angle, often known as chronic. It develops when there is no obstruction to the inflow of fluid into the eye, but there is a blockage to its exit via the angle between the iris and the cornea (the front section of the eye). As a result, intraocular pressure rises, potentially causing injury to the optic nerve. Early stages of open-angle glaucoma are often asymptomatic. Regular eye exams are useful for spotting this condition. A less frequent form of glaucoma, angular velocity glaucoma, is also commonly known as acute glaucoma. It develops when the iris and the cornea don't form a wide enough "cutoff" angle. As a result, intraocular pressure may spike suddenly, triggering symptoms including extreme eye discomfort, nausea, vomiting, and distorted vision. To avert blindness, patients with angle-closure glaucoma need to get treatment immediately.
How Many Different Kinds Of Glaucoma Are There?
Treatment for glaucoma depends on the specific form of the disease that the patient has.
Main Types
Primary open-angle glaucoma
The most prevalent kind of glaucoma, primary open-angle glaucoma, occurs when a blockage develops in one or both of the eye's drainage canals, leading to a rise in intraocular pressure. Despite the lack of symptoms, this kind of glaucoma usually responds favorably to therapy if diagnosed in its early stages.
Acute angle-closure glaucoma
Acute angle-closure glaucoma is more prevalent in persons with smaller eyes and occurs more often in those with obstructions. It creates rapid, severe symptoms that need immediate treatment; medication to decrease the pressure is often required prior to surgery to fix the condition. Secondary glaucoma may develop when an eye is damaged, a disease progresses, or a patient takes a medicine like steroids.
Glaucoma comes in a variety of forms, some of which are:
Normal-Tension Glaucoma:
This glaucoma develops when the optic nerve is injured, yet the intraocular pressure is normal. Poor blood supply to the optic nerve is suspected of contributing to this kind of glaucoma.
Congenital Glaucoma:
Infants are born with this form of disease. Flaws bring it on in how the eye's drainage system is formed.
Secondary Glaucoma:
An underlying disease or medicine is responsible for this kind of glaucoma. Diabetes, cataracts, and eye trauma are all potential triggers for secondary glaucoma. To diagnose your specific form of glaucoma and start on the most effective course of therapy, you and your doctor must work together carefully.
What Causes Glaucoma?
The failure of the eye's natural fluid to drain correctly leads to a collection of disorders known as glaucoma. Due to the increased pressure, the optic nerve that transmits visual information from the eye to the brain is damaged and eventually severed, leading to permanent blindness. Age, family history, race, and other medical disorders, including diabetes and nearsightedness, might raise the risk of glaucoma. However, the exact reasons still need to be discovered. While it may strike at any age, those over 60 are most afflicted.
What Are The Signs And Symptoms Of Glaucoma?
Symptoms of the most prevalent kinds of glaucoma, such as blind spots and visual loss, often don't present themselves until the condition has progressed significantly. Less often seen acute angle-closure glaucoma may cause extreme discomfort in the eyes, as well as redness and pain. Secondary glaucoma might cause symptoms in certain persons. Failure to detect the illness in its early stages may lead to irreversible vision loss or even blindness if people do not have access to eye health services and undergo screening at least once every two years. This may occur within a decade to two decades in the absence of treatment.
Conclusion
The optic nerve at the rear of the eye is damaged by glaucoma, leading to permanent visual impairment or blindness. Since most forms of glaucoma show no early signs, it is vital to be tested often, especially if you are at risk. Most cases of glaucoma fall into one of two categories: open-angle and angle-closure. Chronic open-angle glaucoma is the most common form of the disease. It occurs when fluid outflow is reduced or blocked despite an open angle between the iris and cornea (the front part of the eye). Increased intraocular pressure like this might be detrimental to the visual nerve. A lack of symptoms characterizes open-angle glaucoma's early phases. An eye exam is the typical setting for its discovery. Acute, or angle-closure, glaucoma occurs very seldom. The iris-cornea angle being too small causes this. A sudden increase in intraocular pressure may produce severe eye pain, nausea, vomiting, and blurred vision. Immediate treatment is necessary for angle-closure glaucoma to prevent vision loss.
