Eye Care – Glaucoma

What is Glaucoma?

Glaucoma is caused by imbalance in the production of fluid named aqueous humor in the eye. This imbalance leads to increase in the pressure in the eye, which is called Glaucoma. Due to Glaucoma, the blood supply to the vision cells decreases thus destroying the nerves and leading to side vision loss, visual disability, and progressing to blindness.

Glaucoma has emerged as leading cause of blindness in the eye and doesn’t have any early symptoms. By the time Glaucoma is detected in most of the cases, it is often too late leading to irreversible damage to the eye.

Here are the key features for Glaucoma:

• Increased intraocular pressure: The pressure inside the eye is measured with non-contrast tonometer to detect the disease progression.

• Optic nerve cupping and atrophy: Optic nerve, or nerve of sight, dries up as it suffers damage due to high pressure inside the eye.

• Visual field and nerve fiber layer defects: Nerve fibers begin to die and these denote one of the earliest changes with the onset of Glaucoma. An OCT is used to detect the damage of nerve fiber layers.

What are the suggested screenings for the suspected patients?

• Those with family history of glaucoma: For people whose parents or relatives suffer from glaucoma require regular screening at young age to detect the disease or any signs of development at early stage.

• The forty plus age group: People who have crossed the 40 years of age should undergo glaucoma screening every 2 years, even if they have never had family history of glaucoma.

• High plus or minus numbered glasses: We recommend people wearing high plus or minus numbered glasses to undergo complete eye checkup every year.

• People with high intra-ocular pressure: Those who suffer from high intra-ocular pressure need a complete glaucoma workup done, which often includes gonioscopy, corneal thickness measurement, perimetry, funduscopic examination coupled with regular followup every 6 months.