Glaucoma
What is glaucoma?
Glaucoma is an eye disease that causes damage to the optic nerve, which connects your retina to your brain. This damage can lead to vision loss and blindness if it’s not treated.
Glaucoma causes increased pressure in the eyeball, which damages the optic nerve and leads to vision loss. The most common symptoms of glaucoma are:
- Blurry vision
- Eye pain
- Headache
- Halos or coloured circles around lights
How is glaucoma diagnosed?
To diagnose glaucoma, your Ophthalmologist will ask you questions about your medical history and perform a physical examination. Glaucoma is diagnosed when the eye’s optic nerve is damaged by elevated pressure. This can cause visual symptoms such as halos around lights and blind spots in your vision. If you experience these symptoms, it’s likely that you have glaucoma.
What treatment is available for glaucoma?
Treatment options for glaucoma include medication, laser surgery, and traditional glaucoma surgery (trabeculectomy). Glaucoma medications decrease fluid production in your eyes and help lower pressure levels. Laser surgery helps open up blocked passages in your eye so fluid can drain out normally again—resulting in lower pressures as well! Trabeculectomy is an outpatient surgical procedure where part of your eye’s cornea is removed to drain more fluid through a small opening.
How long is the recovery from glaucoma surgery?
The recovery time after glaucoma surgery is generally about a week. During this time, you will be required to wear a patch over your eye to protect it from light and to allow your eye to heal. After the patch has been removed, you will need to wear an eye shield at night for several weeks.
You may experience some discomfort following the procedure, but it should subside within a few days.
