Screening For Glaucoma

A patient complaining of blurred vision, rainbow-colored circles around bright lights, eye and head pain accompanied by nausea, and sudden loss of vision (GRF, 2012) can all signal glaucoma, so educating patients to get treatment as early as possible to avoid further damage is imperative. When working with patients diagnosed with glaucoma it is crucial for a PTA to keep in mind that balance can be an issue because of impaired vision so keeping them safe from falls during exercise is vital, and it may be necessary to use tactile cues in addition to verbal

Glaucoma is several conditions of the eye that damage the optic nerve, which is vital to perfect vision. This damage is caused due to an abnormally high pressure in your eye. Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of blindness in the United States. It can happen at any age but is most common in older adults. If you lose your vision due to glaucoma, it is not possible to gain it back. It is important to get regular eye appointments because if glaucoma is caught early, the loss of vision can be slowed or prevented. There are two types of glaucoma. Open-angle glaucoma and acute angle-closure glaucoma. The symptoms for these two are very different. Open-angle glaucoma symptoms include patchy blind spots in your central or side vision,

Glaucoma is a disease that damages the optic nerve because of extra fluid increasing pressure in the eye (Boyd). It is also the leading cause of blindness if left untreated in people over sixty Boyd states. Varieties of options are available for treatment regarding glaucoma and all are intended to lower the blood pressure and protect optic nerve (Radhakrishan and Iwach). Glaucoma can be treated with eye drops, pills, and surgery or a combination of these methods. (“Treating Glaucoma”). Right now eye drops are the first choice of treatment because they lower eye pressure, helping fluid drain better or decreasing fluid made by the eye (Radhakrishan and Iwach). As is states in the article “Treating Glaucoma” when eye drops cannot control the glaucoma,

Glaucoma is an eye disorder that cause severe blindness. There are multiple types of Glaucoma however, they all have something to do with damage to the optic nerve (usually form high eye pressure) that sends and receives information to the brain form the eye. Glaucoma can be a very dangerous disease although it is no fatal but it can contribute to the failure of one of the bodies most important senses which is blindness. In most cases, glaucoma is correlated with high pressure inside the eye (ocular hypertension),but it also can occur when intraocular pressure (IOP) is normal. If left untreated glaucoma first causes peripheral vision loss and eventually leads to total blindness.

Do you know what the leading cause of blindness is in Americans from ages 20 to 74? It is diabetes an illness that changes the way the body breaks down and absorbs sugars. These changes, doctors feel, take away oxygen that the retina needs. (The retina is the back layer of the eye and it is where sharp images are formed.) When this happens’ some small blood vessels may become weak and break, vision problems occur when this blood leaks into the areas around the retina. Diabetes can also cause glaucoma and cataracts. Glaucoma is a disease that causes a lot of pressure in the eye because too much fluid builds up. Cataracts, on the other hand, cloud the lens of the eye and this makes a person feel like he or she is looking through a grimy window.

The guidelines of the European Glaucoma Society (EGS) for the management of glaucoma due to corticosteroid treatment are; (1) discontinuation of corticosteroid therapy or switch to weaker steroid (2) administration of topical or systemic IOP lowering medications (3) laser trabeculoplasty and (4) glaucoma surgery in intractable cases. These recommendations are, however, not specific for intravitreal administration of

It’s usually a buildup of pressure inside your eye. Glaucoma tends to be inherited and may not show up until later in life. The increase pressure, called intraocular pressure, can damage the optic nerve, which transmits images to your brain. If the damage continues, glaucoma can lead to permanent vision loss. Without treatment, glaucoma can cause total permanent blindness within a few years. Most people with glaucoma have no early symptoms or pain. People need to see a eye doctor regularly so he/she can diagnose and treat glaucoma, before long-term visual loss

This article discussed the eye disease, Glaucoma. There are two types of Glaucoma; open-angle and closed-angle. Open-angle Glaucoma there are no visual abnormalities, but there is a mechanical obstruction interfering with the drainage pathway. While closed-angle Glaucoma is a physical obstruction. Signs and symptoms of Glaucoma are; headache, nausea, vomiting, blurred vision, halo vision, and eye pain. Glaucoma progresses slowly and is asymptomatic at first. As the disease progresses symptoms appear, if symptoms are present then there is already irreversible damage to the eye. There is no cure for Glaucoma, treatment is aimed at slowing the progression of the disease. Diagnostic tests done to detect Glaucoma are; measuring IOP, evaluation of

Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases characterized by increased intraocular pressure, resulting in atrophy of the optic nerve. (Venes, D. 2013) This disease is known to gradually cause the loss of peripheral vision which can eventually lead to total blindness. Glaucoma is the third most prevalent cause of visual impairment and blindness in the U.S, although the incidence of blindness is decreasing due to early detection and treatment. (Venes, D. 2013) Glaucoma comes in two major categories: closed-angle glaucoma, and open-angle glaucoma. (Holistic Nursing Practice, Vol. 24)

Glaucoma is not a specific disease but rather a group of diseases characterised by a large variety of clinical and histopathologic signs (Allingham et al., 2012). If left untreated, there is a high chance of becoming blind and loss of vision. The two main types of glaucoma include open angle and angle closure glaucoma. Most of the research done is on primary open angle glaucoma as it is an age-related and can remain undetected until it becomes serious (Weinreb & Khaw, 2004). Primary open angle glaucoma is the most common form of glaucoma in the United States (Scheetz et al., 2013).

Time to time there has been development in new drugs for glaucoma. With these new drugs comes new benefits and risks. Glaucoma being the second leading cause of blindness in the world (after cataract) (1) is expected to affect around 11 million people worldwide by 2020 (1). Most of the affected population are greater than 50 years of age, who are also expected to have other health issues. For a clinician, it becomes extremely important to understand the potential side effects of the medications before prescribing it to the patients. These adverse drug reactions can occur from the drug itself, the preservatives or the vehicle of the drug, and can be ocular or systemic. Unabsorbed topical ocular medication for glaucoma may drain out of the eye through naso-lacrimal duct and can be absorbed by conjunctiva, nasal mucosa, oropharynx, and GI mucosa (occasionally) to rise to sufficient levels in the blood to cause systemic side effect or interact with other drugs. It has been estimated that roughly 80% of an eye drop can pass through the nasal nasolacrimal duct and get absorbed into the nasal mucosa and its microvasculature. Considering that these eye drops are often used in either eyes twice or thrice a day, the systemic implications can be extremely dangerous. (8)(14)

Optic neuritis is an inflammation of the bundle of optic nerves behind the eye. Whitnall’s hypothesis was nerve inflammation, caused by traction of the medial and superior recti, on the optic nerve.This would cause visual loss, pain, loss of color vision, flashing lights and visual field loss. Optic neuritis, being a demyelinating inflammation, meaning there is damage occurring to the protective covering of the myelin sheath, that is surrounding nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord. The direct cause of optic neuritis is unknown. It is unknown but believed that the immune system attacks the myelin sheath of the optic nerve, resulting in enough inflammation to cause damage to the myelin. Normally the myelin sheath helps conduct electrical impulses from the eye to the brain, converting it into visual information. When optic neuritis occurs the impulses are stopped resulting in visual loss. This only occurs in one eye.

Genetic susceptibility and certain anatomical features of the eye are known to be major risk factors for primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG),1-6 a form of glaucoma that can lead to rapid vision loss and demands immediate medical attention. PACG is a significant cause of irreversible blindness, yet it remains poorly detected. It affects Asian populations disproportionately,7 a densely populated region that accounted for 76.7% of worldwide PACG cases in 2013 with an estimated percentage increase of 58.4% by 2040.8 These numbers emphasize the importance of understanding the underlying pathogenesis of PACG as well as the role played by genetic and environmental factors.

Glaucoma is a group of eye disorders that cause blindness by hurting the optic nerve, which is the large nerve that is responsible for vision. In glaucoma, the optic nerve damage is related to a change in the fluid pressure that circulates around the eyeball. In many cases, Glaucoma occurs when the eye's fluid pressure is high, but it can also occur when the pressure is measured as normal.

Better understanding of glaucoma, requires assessment of the different components incorporate ,retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL), and, and visual function. On the other hand, elevated intraocular pressure, are not only risk factor of glaucoma .RNFL thickness measured by optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a reliable early marker of glaucoma[1,2]. As the pathogenesis of glaucoma involves the degeneration of axons as well as cell bodies and dendrites, The primary site of axonal damage in glaucoma is thought to be the lamina cribrosa , based on findings from previous studies [3-5] ,which thought to be via several mechanisms, including mechanical damage, [6]compromised vascular supply, [7] and increased translaminar pressure gradient[8]. The main load-bearing tissue of the eye is the sclera and its deformations due to the IOP changes are transmitted to the optic nerve head (ONH). ONH cupping in glaucoma is thought to be a combination of the two components – prelaminar and laminar cupping [9]. Clinically, glaucomatous optic nerve damage is diagnosed by the deepening and extension of the optic cup ,with dimension of the neuro-retinal rim [10]. The anterior and posterior surface of the LC is well visualized on the OCT, and this may be used in understanding glaucomatous changes [11]. Optical coherence tomography is a method of using low-coherence interferometry to scan through the layers of the retina with very high axial resolution (3 to 15 μm) , for imaging disorders affecting