Glaucoma can also be described as primary or secondary, as well as chronic or acute. Acute angle-closure glaucoma involves sudden, severe eye pain with nausea and vomiting, headache and blurred vision. This is an emergency and you should seek prompt treatment so you don't lose vision.
Very occasionally, glaucoma can develop suddenly and cause: intense eye pain. nausea and vomiting. a red eye.
Glaucoma is a slowly progressing problem. On an average, untreated Glaucoma takes around 10-15 years to advance from early damage to total blindness. With an IOP (Intraocular Pressure) of 21-25 mmHg it takes 15 yrs to progress, an IOP of 25-30 mmHg around seven years and pressure more than 30 mmHg takes three years.
It is one of the leading causes of blindness for people over the age of 60. Many forms of glaucoma have no warning signs. The effect is so gradual that you may not notice a change in vision until the condition is in its later stages.
While glaucoma is not curable and vision that has been lost cannot be regained, it is treatable. With the appropriate medication and/or surgery, it is very possible to slow down the disease process and prevent further vision loss.
Symptoms of Glaucoma
Seeing halos around lights. Vision loss. Eye redness. Whitening/haziness of the cornea.
8 Loss of vision in glaucoma has been traditionally described as “tunnel vision” or as if “looking through a straw” (courtesy: National Eye Institute and National Institutes of Health). Loss of peripheral vision for 1 eye indicates diminished vision toward the edges of the VF of that eye (Figures 2A and 2B).
Acute angle-closure glaucoma is an ophthalmic emergency as it can lead to irreversible blindness if not identified and treated immediately.
Ocular hypertension usually doesn't cause any symptoms. You probably won't know you have high eye pressure until an eye care specialist diagnosis it during your eye exam. Without having your eye pressure tested by an eye care specialist, there's usually no way for you to feel or know that you have high eye pressure.
Stage 1 Glaucoma – The first stage of glaucoma is often exhibited through the onset of mildly intraocular pressure. This stage is generally brought on by changes to the optic nerve and the eyes' ability to drain fluid from the trabecular meshwork. Continue working with your physician to monitor your symptoms.
But not everyone with high eye pressure will develop glaucoma — and some people with normal eye pressure get glaucoma. Whether you develop glaucoma depends on the amount of pressure your optic nerve can handle — and this amount is different for each person. For most people, eye pressure above 21 is higher than normal.
Closed-angle glaucoma occurs when the fluid is suddenly blocked and cannot flow out of the eye. This causes a quick, severe rise in eye pressure. Dilating eye drops and certain medicines may trigger an acute glaucoma attack. Closed-angle glaucoma is an emergency.
Glaucoma & Vision Loss
Glaucoma can affect anyone of any age, but it is most common in people ages 40 and older. For people over age 60, glaucoma is the number one cause of blindness. The condition is usually the result of pressure in your eye getting too high due to a buildup of fluid, the aqueous humor.
Glaucoma is a chronic, progressive eye disease caused by damage to the optic nerve, which leads to visual field loss. One of the major risk factors is eye pressure. An abnormality in the eye's drainage system can cause fluid to build up, leading to excessive pressure that causes damage to the optic nerve.
Untreated glaucoma can lead to the faster development of permanent vision loss or blindness. Treatments can slow down additional vision loss, but they can't restore lost vision. It's important to see an eye doctor right away if you have eye pain, severe headaches or vision problems.
If undetected and untreated, glaucoma first causes peripheral vision loss and eventually can lead to blindness. By the time you notice vision loss from glaucoma, it's too late.
Even with treatment ,15% to 20% of patients become blind in at least one eye in 15 to 20 years of follow-up. In a recent study, Peters et al. found that at the last visit before death, 42.2% of treated patients were blind unilaterally and 16.4% bilaterally.
stages: stage 0 (normal visual field), stage I (early), stage II (moderate), stage III (advanced), stage IV (severe), and stage V (end-stage).
Eye doctors can check for glaucoma as part of a comprehensive dilated eye exam. The exam is simple and painless — your doctor will give you some eye drops to dilate (widen) your pupil and then check your eyes for glaucoma and other eye problems. The exam includes a visual field test to check your side vision.
Under a lot of pressure
With the eye's drainage channel completely blocked, eye pressure skyrockets in a very short amount of time. This spike often leads to intense, sudden pain in the eye that can even cause vomiting. The pain can further spread to the head, causing intermittent headaches.
Many of these secondary, injury-related glaucoma situations are temporary and quiet down without need for long-term treatment. Some, however, become threats to vision and require long-term treatment. Various conditions cause inflammation in the eye and increase eye pressure (inflammatory glaucoma).
Angle exam
Your ophthalmologist uses eye drops to numb your eye, then touches your cornea with a special lens. The lens shows whether the angle is open or closed. If the angle is closed, the drainage system is blocked, which may indicate glaucoma. The test is also called gonioscopy.
Summary. Living with glaucoma does not necessarily mean giving up driving. Some drivers with glaucoma learn to scan the visual environment such that they are still safe drivers. However, it is important to have your driving assessed if you or your family and friends are concerned about your driving.