Glaucoma

Glaucoma is an eye disease where the pressure inside our eyes gets too high for what our eyes can handle and this pushes on our optic nerves in the back of our eyes which affects the visual signal to our brains. Glaucoma can certainly take our sight if not picked up early and if not treated. It’s progressive and with advances in technology we now have several methods of helping reduce this pressure and slowing progression.

How does it happen?

Our eyes are filled with a clear jelly liquid called the vitreous. Glands in our eyes make jelly and pump it into our eye while at the same time it drains out through holes within the eye’s delicate structure. (This is all internal fluid, nothing to do with your tears.) If the jelly that comes in equals the amount of jelly draining out, then the pressure in the eye will stay roughly the same.

Simply put, there are two main types of glaucoma –

Open Angle Glaucoma – where the glands in the eyes just start making so much more jelly than is needed, we don’t always know why this happens and though our drainage holes are wide, they can’t drain the extra jelly out quick enough and the pressure builds up.

Angle Closure Glaucoma – where the drainage holes close over and stop the outflow of the jelly. Because the eye continues to make more jelly, it has nowhere to go and pressure builds up.

Glaucoma therefore is a disease of the optic nerve and may still threaten our sight even if the pressure remains relatively low – Normal Tension Glaucoma. It may be secondary to other general health issues like diabetes, long term medication use and trauma.

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Diagnosis & Treatment

EARLY DETECTION

With advanced technology we can now see parts of the eye that in years gone by we could not and so signs of glaucoma are picked up in thorough and routine testing often long before you have any idea it’s started. Prognosis is better if it’s detected early and treatment is started before there are any signs of progression. It is a painless disease with no symptoms and in the early phase no changes to vision.

Routine tests for glaucoma at Kenmore Plaza Optometry can include:

Photography of the optic nerve
Measurement of the drainage holes in the front of your eyes and if narrower we use a special lens on the eye (gonioscopy) to have a closer look into this drainage hole
Eye pressure
OCT (Optical Cohearence Tomography) cross sectional scans of the optic nerve to measure thickness and look at individual retinal nerve fibres to better understand your eye and when the pressure might be too high for you.
Visual Fields tests – we have the latest technology to measure your peripheral vision too as this is an important tool in early detection of glaucoma and helps us monitor for progression. Our technology uses a VR headset to review each eyes sensitivity and detailed peripheral vision tests are painless and quick now with this equipment.

All these measurements need to be watched over time and make sure they don’t change. The trick is, everyone’s “normal” is different and so it’s about getting to know your eyes and if your eye pressure is too high for you.

TREATMENT OPTIONS

Depending on the type of glaucoma that someone has, the root cause of the glaucoma and their general health and medications, there are different options to help

Eye drops to reduce the eye pressure
Laser procedure to widen the drainage holes
Stents implanted to widen the draining holes
Surgery to open up the drainage.

We’d love to be your trusted Optometrist to routinely review your eyes and help you understand your vision and risks. We pride ourselves on keeping up to date with training, research and equipment and have great relationships with glaucoma specialists to co manage your care and get you to the right person on time if needed. It’s lovely getting to know families and for you to see the same person if needed each time for your care.