Treatment Of Glaucoma Focuses On Preserving Eyesight
What is glaucoma? Glaucoma is a disease of the major nerve of vision
, called the optic nerve. Glaucoma is characterized by a particular pattern of progressive damage to the optic nerve that generally begins with a subtle loss of side vision peripheral vision.
How common is glaucoma? Worldwide, glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness. As many as half of the individuals with glaucoma, however, may not know that they have the disease. The reason they are unaware is that glaucoma initially causes no symptoms, and the loss of vision on the side periphery is hardly noticeable.
Glaucoma can be diagnosed and treated before long-term visual loss occurs. At first, open-angle glaucoma has no symptoms, if left untreated, people may notice further glaucoma symptoms in some cases, glaucoma may occur in the presence of normal eye pressure. This form of glaucoma is believed to be caused by poor regulation of blood flow to the optic nerve.
When the pressure is too low, the eye becomes softer, while a too high pressure causes the eye to become harder. If damage to the optic nerve from high eye pressure continues, glaucoma will cause loss of vision and if it is not diagnosed and treated, it can progress to loss of central vision and blindness. With early treatment, you can often protect your eyes against serious vision loss and blindness.
Less common causes of glaucoma include a blunt or chemical injury to the eye, severe eye infection, blockage of blood vessels in the eye, inflammatory conditions of the eye, and occasionally eye surgery to correct another condition. If you have health problems such as diabetes or a family history of glaucoma or are at risk for other eye diseases, you may need to visit your eye doctor more frequently.
Glaucoma treatment cannot cure the condition, but it can dramatically slow or temporarily halt its progress. Glaucoma can be treated with either medication or surgery
Treatment for glaucoma focuses on preserving eyesight by slowing the damage to the nerve located in the back of the eye optic nerve. While some experimental glaucoma medications explore new ways of controlling IOP, other treatments are directed at protecting the optic nerve neuroprotection to prevent eye damage, potential vision loss, or even blindness. Many ongoing clinical studies are trying to find neuroprotective agents that might benefit the optic nerve and certain retinal cells in glaucoma.
Laser or surgery what is in the future for glaucoma? There are three types of glaucoma laser surgeries that can be performed in the doctor's office:
Trabeculoplasty
Trabeculoplasty uses a laser to burn tissue from the trabecular meshwork, a structure within the eye that controls the flow of fluid. This procedure increases the aqueous outflow in the area surrounding the laser spot, relieving pressure within the eye. Pressure is reduced in 60 to 70 percent of the patients in whom a laser trabeculoplasty is performed. This type of glaucoma laser surgery is used to treat patients with open-angle glaucoma.
Iridotomy
Closed-angle glaucoma occurs when the angle between the iris and the cornea in the eye is too small. This causes the iris to block fluid drainage, increasing inner eye pressure. Iridotomy glaucoma laser surgery makes a small hole in the iris, allowing it to fall back from the fluid channel so fluid can drain.
Cyclophotocoagulation
Cyclophotocoagulation uses a laser to burn ciliary tissue, which decreases the production of fluid in the eye. The procedure, performed under local anesthesia, has only recently become available to glaucoma patients to reduce the intraocular pressure. This type of glaucoma laser surgery is used to treat patients who have failed to respond to other types of glaucoma surgery. Many patients will require more than a single treatment. The procedure appears to have significant success and relatively low risk.
Conventional Glaucoma Surgery
If laser surgery fails to lower IOP, the surgeon may recommend conventional glaucoma surgery, known as trabeculectomy or filtering surgery. This is an outpatient procedure involving the removal of a tiny piece of the eye under the eyelid. This conventional glaucoma surgery creates a new drainage path that increases the outflow of fluid from the eye.
Other eye pressure-independent strategies for glaucoma management are being currently investigated. Perhaps in the future, we will have ways other than eye pressure reduction to manage glaucoma. Until then, lowering the eye pressure is the only method for reducing the risk of glaucoma visual field loss and remains the primary goal of therapy.
by: Bill Hammons
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