Everything You Need to Know About Glaucoma Treatment
Optic nerve damage from fluid buildup in the eye is a familiar occurrence among people with glaucoma. The pressure from fluid buildup can cause permanent vision loss if the condition is left untreated. Glaucoma holds the number two position as the leading cause of blindness in the world. Treatments for glaucoma include eyedrops besides laser treatments and surgery to slow down vision loss and save your eyesight.
What is Glaucoma?
Glaucoma is a familiar term used to describe a variety of eye disorders damaging the optic nerve. Among optic nerve damages leading to vision loss, glaucoma is the most common condition. The fluid buildup occurs in the front part of the eye in most cases, putting additional pressure on the eye to gradually damage the optic nerve. Intraocular pressure or eye pressure is the term used to describe the pressure.
Some mortals with regular eye stress can also develop glaucoma. However, poorly controlled or untreated glaucoma causes permanent and irreversible vision loss and blindness.
Is Glaucoma Common?
Glaucoma is an age-related eye problem affecting approximately three million Americans. Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness after cataracts globally.
Does Glaucoma Affect Everyone?
People, regardless of their ethnicity and gender, are susceptible to the problem of glaucoma. However, the risk of this condition increases with age. Unfortunately, Africans, Americans, and Latinos are more prone to glaucoma than other races tend to develop the condition earlier in life. Other populations such as Asians and Inuit are also susceptible to a particular form of glaucoma called angle-closure glaucoma.
People with diabetes are doubly likely to acquire this condition. Other risk factors include a family history of glaucoma, hypertension, long-term use of corticosteroids, eye injuries or surgery, hyperopia, and myopia.
Causes of Glaucoma
Glaucoma is a condition occurring without causes although affected by various factors. The most essential element is intraocular eye pressure from the fluid produced by the eye called aqueous humor to nourish them. The pupils receive the fluid in the front of the eye. In healthy eyes, the fluid is discharged through a drainage canal located between the iris and cornea.
People with glaucoma have drainage canals that are clogged with microscopic deposits fluids with no space to drain building up in the eye. The additional fluid pressurizes the eye causing the elevated eye pressure to damage the optic nerve and causing glaucoma eventually.
Diagnosing Glaucoma
People may have glaucoma without even realizing it. Therefore regular exams from the eye doctor near you are essential to detect glaucoma early besides other eye problems. In addition, the exams help assess optic health and vision loss.
When checking for glaucoma, the optometrist near you performs some painless tests to determine whether people are affected by glaucoma. For example, they might perform a dilated eye exam to widen pupils and view the optic nerve at the back of the eyes, an ocular pressure test, a slit lamp exam, a visual field test, et cetera.
Treatment of Glaucoma
If glaucoma is left untreated, it leads to faster development and permanent vision loss or blindness. Therefore people must get glaucoma treatment in Castle Rock, CO, to slow additional vision loss. However, glaucoma treatment cannot restore lost vision. Therefore, people having eye pain, severe headaches, or vision issues must see their eye doctor prevent the problem from aggravating.
Glaucoma treatments include eye drops prescribed to decrease the fluid buildup by increasing drainage to reduce eye pressure. There are various types of eye drops helpful for use for glaucoma. However, glaucoma is a lifelong condition requiring people to use eye drops every day for life.
Glaucoma treatment in Castle Rock also uses a laser to alleviate the pressure from the eye by increasing fluid drainage. Lasers complement the use of eyedrops but are not a substitute to replace them entirely.
Surgery is another option to reduce intraocular eye pressure. Surgery is more invasive but also helpful to achieve better eye pressure control than lasers or eyedrops. In addition, surgery is beneficial to slow down vision loss. Unfortunately, even surgery cannot restore lost vision or cure glaucoma entirely. Various types of surgeries are performed by doctors for glaucoma depending on the particular type and severity of the condition by choosing one technique over the other.
Glaucoma affects an estimated 10 percent of people, causing various degrees of visual impairment. Approximately five percent of people affected by glaucoma develop blindness, although the condition is rare. People experiencing the symptoms of glaucoma must get routine eye exams from their optometrist to protect eye health and prevent vision loss.
If you are looking for Glaucoma Treatment in Castle Rock, CO, you can call or schedule an appointment with Founders Eyecare for professional eye care treatments.