Vision Care Eye Clinic Port Harcourt, Rivers Nigeria
Glaucoma Screening In Port Harcourt Causes, Types, Symptoms, Diagnosis And Treatment
Glaucoma is a condition that damages your eye’s optic nerve. It gets worse over time. It’s often linked to a buildup of pressure inside your eye. Glaucoma tends to run in families. You usually don’t get it until later in life.
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The increased pressure in your eye, called intraocular pressure, can damage your optic nerve, which sends images to your brain. If the damage worsens, glaucoma can cause permanent vision loss or even total blindness within a few years.
Most people with glaucoma have no early symptoms or pain. Visit your eye doctor regularly so they can diagnose and treat glaucoma before you have long-term vision loss.
If you lose vision, it can’t be brought back. But lowering eye pressure can help you keep the sight you have. Most people with glaucoma in Port Harcourt who follow their treatment plan and have regular eye exams are able to keep their vision.
Glaucoma Causes
The fluid inside your eye, called aqueous humor, usually flows out of your eye through a mesh-like channel. If this channel gets blocked, or the eye is producing too much fluid, the liquid builds up. Sometimes, experts don’t know what causes this blockage. But it can be inherited, meaning it’s passed from parents to children.
Less-common causes of glaucoma include a blunt or chemical injury to your eye, severe eye infection, blocked blood vessels inside your eye, and inflammatory conditions. It’s rare, but eye surgery to correct another condition can sometimes bring it on. It usually affects both eyes, but it may be worse in one than the other.
Who Is At Risk for Glaucoma?
It mostly affects adults over 40, but young adults, children, and even infants can have it. People usually tend to get it more often, when they’re younger, and with more vision loss.
- Are over age 40
Have family members with glaucoma
African
Have high eye pressure
Are farsighted or nearsighted
Have had an eye injury
Use long-term steroid medications
Have corneas that are thin in the center
Have thinning of the optic nerve
Have diabetes, migraines, high blood pressure, poor blood circulation or other health problems affecting the whole body
Talk with an ophthalmologist about your risk for getting glaucoma. People with more than one of these risk factors have an even higher risk of glaucoma.
Glaucoma Diagnosis In Port Harcourt
The only sure way to diagnose glaucoma is with a complete eye exam. A glaucoma screening that only checks eye pressure is not enough to find glaucoma.
During a glaucoma exam, your ophthalmologist will:
- measure your eye pressure
- inspect your eye’s drainage angle
- examine your optic nerve for damage
- test your peripheral (side) vision
- take a picture or computer measurement of your optic nerve
- measure the thickness of your cornea
Glaucoma Is A Silent Thief of Sight
Glaucoma has no symptoms in its early stages. In fact, half the people with glaucoma do not know they have it! Having regular eye exams can help your ophthalmologist find this disease before you lose vision. Your ophthalmologist can tell you how often you should be examined.
Can Glaucoma Be Stopped?
Glaucoma damage is permanent—it cannot be reversed. But medicine and surgery help to stop further damage. To treat glaucoma, your ophthalmologist may use one or more of the following treatments.
Medication
Glaucoma is usually controlled with eyedrop medicine. Used every day, these eye drops lower eye pressure. Some do this by reducing the amount of aqueous fluid the eye makes. Others reduce pressure by helping fluid flow better through the drainage angle.
Glaucoma medications can help you keep your vision, but they may also produce side effects. Some eye drops may cause:
- A stinging or itching sensation
Red eyes or red skin around the eyes
Changes in your pulse and heartbeat
Changes in your energy level
Changes in breathing (especially if you have asthma or breathing problems)
Dry mouth
Blurred vision
Eyelash growth
Changes in your eye color, the skin around your eyes or eyelid appearance
All medications can have side effects. Some drugs can cause problems when taken with other medications. It is important to give your doctor a list of every medicine you take regularly. Be sure to talk with your ophthalmologist if you think you may have side effects from glaucoma medicine.
Never change or stop taking your glaucoma medications without talking to your ophthalmologist. If you are about to run out of your medication, ask your ophthalmologist if you should have your prescription refilled.
Laser surgery
There are two main types of laser surgery to treat glaucoma. They help aqueous drain from the eye. These procedures are usually done in the ophthalmologist’s office or an outpatient surgery center.
Trabeculoplasty:
This surgery is for people who have open-angle glaucoma and can be used instead of or in addition to medications. The eye surgeon uses a laser to make the drainage angle work better. That way fluid flows out properly and eye pressure is reduced.
Iridotomy:
This is for people who have angle-closure glaucoma. The ophthalmologist uses a laser to create a tiny hole in the iris. This hole helps fluid flow to the drainage angle.
Operating Room Surgery
Some glaucoma surgery is done in an operating room. It creates a new drainage channel for the aqueous humor to leave the eye.
Trabeculectomy:
This is where your eye surgeon creates a tiny flap in the sclera. He or she will also create a bubble (like a pocket) in the conjunctiva called a filtration bleb. It is usually hidden under the upper eyelid and cannot be seen. Aqueous humor will be able to drain out of the eye through the flap and into the bleb. In the bleb, the fluid is absorbed by tissue around your eye, lowering eye pressure.
In trabeculectomy, a flap is first created in the sclera (the white part of the eye). Then a small opening is made into the eye to release fluid from the eye.
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Glaucoma Drainage Devices:
Your ophthalmologist may implant a tiny drainage tube in your eye. The glaucoma drainage implant sends the fluid to a collection area (called a reservoir). Your eye surgeon creates this reservoir beneath the conjunctiva. The fluid is then absorbed into nearby blood vessels.
Cataract surgery
For some people with narrow angles, removing the eye’s natural lens can lower eye pressure. With narrow angles, the iris and the cornea are too close together. This can cover (block) the eye’s drainage channel. Removing the eye’s lens with cataract surgery creates more space for fluid to leave the eye. This can lower eye pressure.
Your Role in Glaucoma Treatment
Treating glaucoma successfully is a team effort between you and your doctor. Your ophthalmologist will prescribe your glaucoma treatment. It is up to you to follow your doctor’s instructions and use your eye drops.
Once you are taking medications for glaucoma, your ophthalmologist will want to see you regularly. You can expect to visit your ophthalmologist about every 3–6 months. However, this can vary depending on your treatment needs.
If you have any questions about your eyes or your treatment, visit us today Vision Care Eye Clinic Port Harcourt