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The Risk Factors of Glacucoma Essay

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“When I was first diagnosed with glaucoma, I was depressed. I didn’t know much about glaucoma, or whether the pressure could be controlled. I had trouble even accepting that something this serious could happen to my eyes.”- Roger McGuinn, Co-founder of the famed pop music group The Byrds.
With no treatment needed, glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness in the United States, while simultaneously being the number one leading cause in Africa (Glaucoma Research Foundation). According to the American Optometric Association, “Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases causing optic nerve damage. The optic nerve carries images from the retina, which is the specialized light sensing tissue, to the brain so we can see.” They go on to say that when …show more content…

Kennedy, Dr. Olivia Scott).
However this is isn't the case with narrow/closed-angle glaucoma and secondary forms of glaucoma. These types cause rapid closure of the area of tissue in the eye located around the base of the cornea; doctor term being the trabecular meshwork, along with a symptomatic rapid rise in intraocular pressure (eye fluid pressure). The cause of blindness in chronic open-angle glaucoma is a partial blockage within the trabecular meshwork that restricts the drainage of aqueous humour. The reason why the trabecular meshwork becomes blocked and does not drain well is not fully understood, as concluded by Dr. Tim Kenny. The aqueous humour builds up if the drainage is faulty and this increases the pressure within your eye. “The increased pressure in your eye can damage the nerve fibers, which is the main nerve of sight, running from the retina at the point where they converge to become the optic nerve (known as the optic nerve head or optic disc).” When fibers are damage the result is patches of vision loss, in some cases this can evidently lead to total blindness.
With only redness of the retina being a visible symptom, all other symptoms don’t show, even pain is absent. Because peripheral vision is the first to go, most people with glaucoma don’t notice any problems until quite a bit of visual loss has occurred. When reading, our peripheral vision is absent and our central vision is what is primarily engaged. As glaucoma takes over, this

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