What is glaucoma?
The eye has many important structures, including the optic nerve - this cables all of your visual information back to your brain. You may have heard about having a blind spot in your eye, and this is your optic nerve taking all the useful data back to base. You can just imagine how many delicate fibres are in this important bundle. The eye is pretty incredible when you think about all the parts.
Glaucoma is a group of conditions that damage this optic nerve. Sometimes it is due to eye pressure being high, causing damage to this delicate structure. We can measure the eye pressure a number of different ways, and it isn’t anything to be scared of. The pressure is a guide for us, but isn’t the whole picture in glaucoma.
Glaucoma damages the peripheral vision – so the vision you see to either side of straight ahead.
Who is at risk?
There are several factors that can increase your risk of developing glaucoma:
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Age over 40: Risk increases significantly with each decade, especially after age 50.
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Family history: Having a parent or sibling with glaucoma multiplies your risk.
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Thin corneas: A thinner-than-average central cornea increases vulnerability.
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Extreme refractive errors: Having really strong glasses can increase your risk of developing glaucoma.
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Medical conditions: Diabetes, high or low blood pressure, and migraines are known to be linked with glaucoma.
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Prolonged steroid use: Long-term use of steroid medications, especially eye drops, raises eye pressure.
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Prior eye trauma: Past physical injury or severe eye surgery can trigger secondary forms of the disease.
What are the symptoms?
Unfortunately, there are often no symptoms before being diagnosed with glaucoma.
You can’t feel whether your eye pressure is higher than normal, and you may not notice if an area of your peripheral vision is weaker than it was, because it isn’t something you think about day to day.
This is why regular eye examinations are so important. An eye test can help identify changes that you may not notice yourself and allow us to monitor your eyes over time.
How is glaucoma detected?
An optometrist is well placed to analyse your optic nerve and look for signs that may indicate glaucoma. We use a combination of tests, including:
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Eye pressure measurements
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OCT scans
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Visual field testing
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Retinal photography
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Examination of the structures inside the eye using traditional clinical instruments
Eye pressure is an important part of assessing glaucoma, but it isn't the whole picture. Your optometrist will consider your eye health, optic nerve, visual field, and other risk factors when assessing your risk.
For someone who is considered a glaucoma suspect, we recommend annual reviews – or more often if their risks are high.
How is glaucoma managed?
We often share the management of glaucoma with an ophthalmologist. We can do the ongoing monitoring and, if there are problems or changes, send you back to the ophthalmologist as required.
If you are diagnosed with glaucoma, you are usually given eye drops to lower the eye pressure – much like blood pressure medication. Unfortunately, you need to be on this medication the rest of your life to protect your eyesight from deterioration.
