Untreated glaucoma can lead to devastating vision problems. The symptoms of glaucoma often go unnoticed until the condition has irreversibly progressed to a dangerous level. The good news is that our eye examinations at York Mills Eye Care are designed to diagnose the first signs of glaucoma.
If you’re considered high-risk for glaucoma or if you have been previously diagnosed, it’s essential that you undergo regularly scheduled annual eye exams.
Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that have a degenerative effect on the optic nerve. If the optic nerve continues to deteriorate, it can eventually lead to blindness. Glaucoma is often related to high intraocular pressure (IOP), but is not necessarily a consequence.
What we do know about glaucoma is that halting its progression remains our best management tool. Regular eye exams are the key to staying ahead of glaucoma.
At York Mills Eye Care, we use Goldmann tonometry to test your intraocular pressure. This technique, considered the gold standard of eye pressure measurement, gently presses a flat probe against the surface of the eye. Its reading is a reliable indicator of IOP.
There many types of glaucoma, but it’s most commonly the result of excess fluid building up in your eye, increasing IOP. Known as aqueous humor, when this fluid puts extra pressure on the optic nerve it can be very damaging.
The most common type of glaucoma is open-angle glaucoma. It results from improper drainage of aqueous humour due to a blockage in the angle between the iris and cornea. Although there are treatments to prevent sight loss from this type of glaucoma, early intervention remains the most effective way to stop it.
If the optic nerve is damaged despite normal eye pressure and a functional drainage system, we refer to it as normal-tension glaucoma. Symptoms can be mild until it’s too late, so early intervention becomes an invaluable tool.
If the angle between the iris and the cornea is too shallow acute angle-closure glaucoma can develop. This type of glaucoma is quite rare but has devastating consequences when left untreated.
Symptoms can occur suddenly and include:
Acute angle-closure glaucoma is a serious ocular emergency. If you experience the symptoms listed, you should seek immediate medical attention. Please call our office and request an emergency appointment or proceed to the nearest emergency room.
The severity of glaucoma typically increases the longer it goes untreated. If our eye doctors determine that you do have glaucoma, we’ll take immediate action to halt its progress. The damage done by this disease cannot be reversed, but we can protect your vision from further damage.
The first method of treatment is usually medicated eye drops or oral medication to lower intraocular pressure. The goal is to lower your IOP until damage to your optic nerve stops.
Glaucoma eye surgery aims to change the eye’s drainage angle so that pressure decreases and fluid drains normally. This can be done through laser eye surgery, and in some situations, with more traditional surgical methods.
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