Glaucoma

Glaucoma is a group of diseases that damage the optic nerve, the cable that sends visual information from your eye to your brain. This damage is often caused by higher-than-normal pressure inside the eye, but it can also occur with normal pressure. It typically leads to gradual, permanent loss of peripheral (side) vision.

Disease

Symptoms

In open-angle glaucoma, there are no early symptoms or pain. Vision loss is so slow that you might not notice until significant damage has occurred. In acute angle-closure glaucoma (a medical emergency), symptoms include severe eye pain, headache, nausea, vomiting, and sudden blurry vision with halos around lights. Major risk factors include age over 60, family history, African or Hispanic heritage, high eye pressure, and severe nearsightedness.

Diagnosis

Glaucoma is detected through a comprehensive eye exam that includes: measuring eye pressure (tonometry), examining the drainage angle of the eye (gonioscopy), assessing the optic nerve for damage, and testing your side vision (visual field test). Imaging scans of the optic nerve (OCT) can also measure the nerve fiber layer injury.

Treatments

While lost vision cannot be restored, treatment can prevent further damage. The main goal is to lower eye pressure using prescription eye drops (most common), laser therapy to improve fluid drainage (YAG laser peripheral iridotomy), or various types of surgery to create a new drainage pathway.

More to read

Disease

Cataract

A cataract is a clouding of the eye's natural, clear lens. Think of it as a clear window that slowly becomes frosted. This clouding scatters light, preventing a sharp image from reaching the retina. It is most commonly related to aging. However, some forms of congenital cataract are seen in children.

Disease

Refractive Error

Refractive error means that your eye does not focus light ideally onto the retina, resulting in a blurred image on the retina. This condition is not a disease, but a common problem with light focusing. Its main types include myopia (nearsightedness: nearby objects are clear while distant objects appear blurry), hyperopia (farsightedness: distance vision may be clearer than near vision), and astigmatism (vision is blurry at all distances due to an irregularly shaped cornea).

Disease

Night Blindness

Night blindness is a symptom, not a disease. It means your eyes have trouble adapting to low light. This is often due to a problem with the rod cells in your retina, which are responsible for night and peripheral vision.

Disease

Color Blindness

Most color blindness is not complete blindness to color, but a difficulty telling certain colors apart. It is usually an inherited condition (more common in males) present from birth. It happens when certain light-sensitive cone cells in your retina don't work properly. The most common type is trouble distinguishing reds from greens.

Disease

Retinopathy of Prematurity

ROP is a disease that affects premature infants. In the womb, the retinal blood vessels grow late in pregnancy. When a baby is born very early, this normal growth is interrupted. After birth, abnormal, fragile blood vessels may begin to grow in the retina. These vessels can leak and scar, potentially pulling the retina off (detachment).

Disease

Retinal Detachment

A retinal detachment is a medical emergency. It occurs when the retina peels away from the back wall of the eye, like wallpaper bubbling off a wall. When detached, the retina cannot function, leading to vision loss.