Glaucoma
What is it?
Glaucoma is a neuroticopathy characterized by a number of risk factors including increased eye pressure that results in damage to optic nerve fibers.
This results in a peripheral loss of the visual field and then causes, in the most severe forms, outright blindness. The fundamental problem with this condition is that the patient, who does not perceive his or her own intraocular pressure until there is a significant and irreversible loss of the visual field, turns to the ophthalmologist too late.
Which are the symptoms?
The disorder has typical highlighted, but not exclusive, symptoms:
- Halos around the light
- Buphthalmos
- Eye pain
- Photophobia
- Reddened eyes
- Elevated intraocular pressure
- Narrowing of the visual field
- Decreased vision
- Scotomas
- Blurred vision
How is it diagnosed?
Diagnosis is difficult to make in a single visit. It is a series of tests that are compared to each other telling us whether the pathology is stable or progressing. During routine eye examinations we recommend measuring the eye pressure, which is defined as normal between 10 and 21 mmHg, millimeters mercury, and evaluated the appearance of the optic nerve.
How is it treated?
Therapy is primarily pharmacological and aims to reduce increased eye pressure, a major risk factor for glaucoma. These are multiple classes of drugs that are extremely reliabl:
- beta blockers
- carbonic anhydrase inhibitors
- prostaglandins
- alpha blockers
The second step in treatment could be the use of lasers, specifically argon laser trabeculoplasty or selective trabeculoplasty, which are thermal stimulations at the level of the trabecular meshwork (the portion of the eye responsible for the outflow of the aqueous humor from the inside and outside of the eye), such that its outflow capacity is increased resulting in a decrease in intraocular pressure
Finally, the third step is the surgical approach for which there are different types of surgery to increase filtration. Surgery, once the most frequent outlet for glaucoma treatment, now accounts for 4-5% of cases as the effectiveness of the surgery depends greatly on the patient's scarring characteristics.
Regardless of the option chosen, the glaucomatous patient should be followed up at least two or three times a year because in some cases the therapy needs to be corrected in progress.
Where do we treat it?
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