Introduction to glaucomaWhat is glaucoma?Glaucoma is considered as the second leading cause of blindness in the United States. In most of cases it will cause gradual painless loss of vision without the notice of the patient until the disease is advanced. It is a group of diseases which lead to optic nerve damage and result in decrease in vision and constriction of visual field. The damage is irreversible. The normal intraocular pressure (I.O.P) ranges between 10 -20 mmHg. It occurs when intraocular pressure increases above 20 mmHg. IOP above 21 mmHg will raise the suspicion and further investigations should be done. There is a fluid inside the eye called aqueous humor that is produced from special part of the eye called ciliary body or ciliary process. This fluid is drained through the angle of the eye. This angle present between the iris and the cornea and it is directed to channels called trabecular meshwork which drain aqueous fluid outside the eye into veins.There are many reasons that lead to either increase in production of aqueous humor or decrease the drainage of it through the angle and trabecular meshwork and these reasons will lead to increase intra-ocular pressure in acute or chronic form. This high intraocular pressure will cause optic nerve damage through ischemia mainly.
What is optic nerve?It is the nerve that arises from the back of the eyes and it is directed backward to the brain. It consists of 1.2 million axons or bundles in which their cells present in the retina. Those axons that will be damaged when there is high intraocular pressure. With more axons damaged, there will be black spots formed in the visual field especially peripherally and only central vision is clear leading to tunnel vision. When the disease advanced, central vision will also be affected.Other links for glaucoma:Types of glaucoma Diagnosis Treatments Glaucoma medications Laser treatments Surgical treatments
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