Glaucoma Treatment

The wide spreading of glaucoma, the disease early diagnosis difficulties and serious prognosis are the reasons of constantly increased attention the scientists and practice doctors have to this disease. This eye disease is the second most frequent cause of incurable blindness.

What is Glaucoma about

Glaucoma is the eye chronic disease in which the intraocular pressure raises and the optic nerve is affected. The vision deteriorates up to absolute blindness. The blindness caused by glaucoma is of irreversible nature because the optic nerve is destroyed. In this case, returning vision to the patient is already impossible!  

Unfortunately, glaucoma is a rather widespread disease. More frequently it affects people aged over 40, but it can affect young people as well (adolescent glaucoma) or even newborn babies (congenital glaucoma).

The normal intraocular pressure figures are individual for every person, but on average they are within the range of 16-25 millimeters of mercury column when measured by Maklakov tonometer. The constancy of intraocular pressure is determined by the balance of the liquid produced inside the eye and the liquid flowing out of the eye.
 
Therefore, the eye liquid retention results in intraocular pressure increase, and high intraocular pressure destroys the optic nerve.

Hereditary factors play critical role in glaucoma arising.       

       If your relatives had glaucoma, you should be especially careful and undergo regular ophthalmologist examinations. The examination and intraocular pressure measurement minimum once a year will allow to reveal the disease and to treat it efficiently.
 

Glaucoma Symptoms and Forms

There are three main features of glaucoma:

• Intraocular pressure increase.
• Eyesight area narrowing.
• Optic nerve changing.
  

For timely glaucoma revealing, it is important to know its symptoms and the patient’s feelings.

The following symptoms may point to intraocular pressure increase:

• Eyesight blurs, net appears in front of the eyes.
• Iridescent rounds appear when looking at the light source (for example, at the lighting bulb).
• Feeling of discomfort in the eye, feeling of heaviness and strain.
• Slight colic in the eye.
• Feeling of eye moistening.
• Deterioration of vision in the twilight.
• Slight pain around the eyes.
  

Glaucoma is not an infectious disease. As a rule, it arises in two eyes, but not simultaneously. In the second eye it can be revealed only several months or years later.

Only a specialist is able to determine if you have glaucoma and in which form.

Glaucoma Treatment

Currently there are three main directions of treating glaucoma: medicinal (conservative), laser and surgical.

Glaucoma treatment traditionally starts with using the medications reducing intraocular pressure. However, this approach to the disease treatment has serious flows, as the medicine (hypotensive drugs) do not reduce intraocular pressure (ophthalmologic tonus) quite often. In addition, the efficiency of medicine may be reduced as a result of long-term medicine application. Eye drops should be applied within strictly set time interval, which is not always possible. The drops major flaw is their having side effects such as progressing the cataract the patient already has, the eye-pupil narrowing, stable reduction of the intraocular liquid production which negatively affects the eye metabolism. Many medicines are counter-indicative for the patients having cardiovascular and respiratory system diseases. And, most importantly, medications fight not against the entire disease, but against its symptoms.

Because of this, specialists have elaborated and successfully apply the methods of new quality for treating glaucoma. These methods are effective, safe and non-traumatic. There are laser operations and surgical interventions among them.

In the first case, the laser ray penetrates the eye with no hindrance and improves the intraocular liquid outflow by affecting the eye drainage system. Glaucoma laser treatment is painless, short in time and is performed under the ambulatory conditions. Its best point is not applying surgical intervention to the eye ball. Unfortunately, the laser ray is not able to heal all the patients suffering from glaucoma. Surgical operation is an effective treatment method for the majority of people having this disease.

It is proved that the earlier surgical interference is performed, the more stable and quality vision preservation is in glaucoma-affected patients.