What’s Glaucoma? Why does it happen? What are the treatments?
Let's go through an overall view, which will help you understand Glaucoma better. It’s a condition in which the eyes are damaged, where our optic nerves get worse over a period of time. In this disease, your eyes’ fluid pressure rises if not treated. Its symptoms usually are blurred vision, nausea, severe pain and redness of the eyes. In such a case, a person can lose his/her vision and can even go blind. This disease is commonly seen in older people and if not treated in time, it can cause permanent damage to one’s optic nerve that does the work of transmitting images to our brains. In most cases, it is inherited and shows up when a person is much older.
How to treat Glaucoma?
We can treat Glaucoma with the use of pills, eye drops, laser or traditional surgery. It can be a blend of all these. The main aim is to try and prevent any damage to your vision. If vision is lost due to glaucoma, it cannot be reversed.
The doctor will try to follow the following steps before deciding on a surgery:
1.Eye Drops
Taking medications exactly and regularly as prescribed by your doctor is very important when trying to control one’s eye pressure. As the eye drops get absorbed in your bloodstream, keep your eyes shut for a minute or two. Most eye drops will make you feel a bit uncomfortable for a couple of seconds, but that is okay.
2.Pills
At times, pills will be prescribed along with eye drops. Pills generally are to be taken two to three times a day. It is necessary to mention to the doctor all the medication that you are on. Some drugs turn dangerous when mixed with a different drug.
3.Understanding Laser Surgery
Lazer has become very popular as a step between traditional surgery and drugs and its success rate is good. The most commonly performed laser surgery is open-angle glaucoma, which is medically termed as trabeculoplasty. It hardly takes 10 to 15 minutes and is painless. They use laser beams and focus on the eye’s drain. The laser doesn’t make a hole in your eyes as many people believe. You can go back home and start living a normal life after surgery. The doctor will check you for an hour or two after the surgery. Most patients heal well after the laser surgery. It may, however, take a couple of weeks to feel and enjoy the full effect of the surgery at times. During this period, the doctor may ask you to continue your medication and eventually to discontinue it. In this case, the doctor will judge if you need to continue or to stop your medication. Laser surgeries are less complicated, hence, its a popular choice among patients.
