Symptoms Of Glaucoma – Types, Causes And Prevention

You may have early symptoms of glaucoma and you may have overlooked it. Glaucoma may run in families and people with African origins are more likely to get glaucoma and ignore symptoms of glaucoma at an early age.

There are several types of glaucoma and with different types of symptoms of glaucoma for each. People with ages higher than 45 years old, have high blood pressure and with a history of eye injury is most at risk for developing this disease.

Glaucoma is a progressive eye damage that includes the optic nerves which are damaged due to increased intra ocular fluid or fluid inside the eyeball. The fluid drainage is usually equal to the fluid produced inside the eye in normal conditions but in glaucoma there is an increased pressure that may be due to an increased fluid production or blockage in the fluid drainage.

In the United States and in some countries glaucoma is the leading cause of blindness second only to diabetes. Some people may not notice the early symptoms of glaucoma until their vision has deteriorated. Here are some symptoms of acute glaucoma:

1.      Loss of sight is often progressively felt as the optic nerves are slowly damaged by the increased in eye pressure.

2.      Pain is characterized as sharp, piercing pain that may not go away even with resting your eyes or with over the counter pain relievers.

3.      Blurred vision or the “halo” lights effects are common with the increased pressure on the optic nerve.

4.      Felling nausea or vomiting. This is also an effect of the increased pressure on your optic nerves. You may also feel nausea together with severe eye pain as well.

5.      Reddening of the eye – is often one of the late symptoms of glaucoma and this is often found in acute narrow angle type of glaucoma.

These are the acute symptoms of glaucoma and the sooner you recognize these symptoms, the better is your chance to save your eyesight. There are screening tests that can be done to determine if you have glaucoma.

An optometrist may diagnose your condition through measuring the fluid pressure inside the eye which is called a tonometry test, looking at the thickness of your corneas and further measuring your field of vision with visual acuity tests.

If an optometrist diagnoses glaucoma, you will be referred to an ophthalmologist for more tests and possible treatment for your condition. A gonioscopy may be done to look at the fluid drainage inside the eye to see if this is the cause of the pressure build up. He may prescribe medications to lower the fluid pressure inside the eye, eye surgery or laser treatment help save your vision.

If you have a family history of glaucoma and you may have one or more of the risk factors for the illness then you must undergo regular tests from the time you reach the age of 35. Remember that the only way to save your vision is to detect early symptoms of glaucoma so you can get early treatment.