Saturday, May 3, 2014

Various Facts About Glaucoma San Antonio

By Eloise Hewitt


Glaucoma refers not just to one eye disease but a group of eye conditions that bring about damage of the optic nerve. This may result to vision loss. When there is too high pressure within the eye, known as intraocular pressure, this is likely to lead to eye damage. It is among the leading causes of blindness and damages vision slowly in such a way that one may not realize the loss of vision until later in the advanced stages. When considering treatment of glaucoma San Antonio residents should know all details involved.

The most common type is the primary-angle glaucoma. It has no noticeable signs or symptoms except for the fact that the seriousness increases gradually. When diagnosis is done early and treatment scheduled, damage to the optic nerve is minimized and any vision loss related to it avoided. The eyes should be examined regularly and this should include measurement of intraocular pressure.

Primary-angle and angle-closure glaucoma have very different symptoms. The first of the two, primary-angle, is of two types; gradual loss of peripheral vision in the two eyes and tunnel vision during the advanced stages. The other, angle-closure, has symptoms such as blurred vision, pain in the eyes, vomiting, sudden onset of visual disturbance and nausea. This condition is referred to as secondary when it can be traced to known causes and primary when the causes are unknown.

Patients should not wait for symptoms to be noticeable. The key to early detection is to go for regular eye check-ups. In case one realizes severe pain in the eyes, strong headaches, blurred vision, nausea or halos around the eye, immediate care should be sought. Otherwise, one may risk seeking medical attention when it is too late.

There is the fluid known as aqueous humor that flows in and out of eyes. When the fluid builds up inside the eye, there is increased pressure. This fluid gets out of the eye via a drainage system that is at the angle where the iris and cornea meet. If in any case the drainage system does not work well, then the fluid does not filter normally from the eyes. There is thus pressure build-up in the eyes.

There are certain risk factors that one should be wary of. Age is one such crucial factor. People over 40 years are at risk of suffering from angle-closure glaucoma. For certain groups such as African-Americans, the risk development of the eye condition is much higher and takes place in younger people. For Mexican-Americans, those older than 60 are at a higher risk.

Persons that have a family history of glaucoma have a greater risk of development. There is a genetic link to the condition, which means that there is a defect in one or more genes which makes some individuals to be more susceptible to the disease. Medical conditions that may increase risk of infection are high blood pressure, diabetes and heart diseases.

The treatment is mainly used to reduce pressure of the eyes. The pressure of the eyes is lowered, the drainage system improved or the quantity of fluid reduced. The condition itself cannot be cured. It is the damages that are minimized and vision loss prevented.




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