Glaucoma

 Glaucoma is a group of eye conditions that damage the optic nerve, the health of which is vital for good vision. This damage is often caused by an abnormally high pressure in your eye. Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of irreversible blindness for people over the age of 60. 

Anyone can develop glaucoma. People above 50 years of age, people with family history of glaucoma, diabetics, people with hypertension and people with Migraines are at a higher rick than others.

Pain around the eyes when coming out from darkness, colored halo rings seen around light bulbs, frequent change of reading glasses, headaches, pain, and redness of the eyes and gradual decrease of side vision with the progression of glaucoma are some of the common symptoms of Glaucoma.

Routine investigations for glaucoma include applanation tonometry for recording the IOP, Gonioscopy to detect the structures of the angle and ophthalmoscopy to visualise the optic disc changes.

Specialised investigations for glaucoma include perimetry to look for visual field changes and OCT to look for retinal nerve fiber loss. These investigations detect very minute changes in optic nerve function and help us monitor the progress of the disease over time.

Glaucoma patients are initially started with medications to control the IOP. if even after maximum medications the IOP is not controlled and there is continuous optic nerve damage then trabeculectomy surgery is performed.