Definition of Glaucoma

Glaucoma is an eye disorder in which the intraocular pressure increases and the optic nerve is damaged resulting in loss of vision is called Glaucoma.

What is Glaucoma?

Talk about the most dangerous eye affecting disorders and you will find Glaucoma at the top of the list.

Glaucoma is a disorder in which the optic nerve of the eye is damaged by the building up of fluid in the front part of the eye.

When extra pressure is applied to the eye, the optic nerve is damaged.

This eye pressure is not a standard limit.

It might be high for one person and lower for the other one.

Some people have the tendency to tolerate high eye pressures while others don’t.

Now, what is the optic nerve?

An optic nerve is formed when a bundle of over 1 million nerve fibers unites together.

These nerve fibers are more like electric wires.

The optic nerve conveys messages from retina to brain.

Glaucoma is a condition which comes unannounced.

The victim remains unaware of the disaster.

It slowly makes its way and when it is finally diagnosed it is too late.

In the initial stages, the person does not realize how bad the situation is and later the problem spreads from the optic nerve to other parts of the eye and causes blurring of vision and then total loss.

This condition must not be taken lightly as it leaves major setback to eye health.

The worst that can happen, and usually happens, is the loss of vision.

Surprisingly, there is a very minor margin for the betterment but only lucky ones can make its way out of the trap.

Unbelievingly, it leaves permanent damage to eyes.

After the condition spreads gradually the person becomes blind.

For a better idea about your eye health, it is usually suggested to have a frequent eye check-up and make sure your eye is being tested it the right way.

That is how you may know how far or near you are to Glaucoma.

What are the causes of Glaucoma?

Aqueous Humor is a clear, transparent fluid which is being made in the back part of your eye.

When this fluid is formed it appears on the front part of the eye.

This fluid begins to leave the front part through very small channels and go into the cornea and iris.

Just in case, your channels are blocked or damaged and the fluid can’t pass through them, then the pressure begins to build up.

The natural pressure is called Intraocular pressure (IOP).

When this pressure increases, the optic nerve is being pressed.

Gradually, when the matter doesn’t sort out, then the pressure ultimately damages the optic nerve.

Then these small electric wires are damaged, black spots begin to appear in your vision.

In the beginning, the affected person doesn’t notice the black spots, but gradually when all nerve fibers die the person becomes blind completely.

Researches are still going on about concluding the causes of Glaucoma.

Yet, the experts and specialists have pointed out some factors which might be involved in increasing the eye pressure.  Following are some conditions which lead to glaucoma.

• Age: as the age increases, the size of eye’s drainage channels reduces due to which the intraocular pressure builds up in the eye.
• Inheritance: If glaucoma runs in the family, then it is clear that it might appear in the descendants.
• Diabetes: In diabetes, the blood vessels usually damage. In this case, new abnormal channels are produced which grow on the iris and stops the blood flow to the eye resulting in the increase of pressure.
• Myopia: In this case, the head of the optic nerve is tilted and causes glaucomatous damage.
• Injury to the eye: Usually, an injury to head or directly on eye causes a lot of pressure on eyes.
• Use of cortisone (either directly in the eyes or taken orally): Steroids elevate the intraocular pressure by the deposition of material in juxtacanalicular mesh-work of eyes.

What are the signs and symptoms of Glaucoma?

The patients with glaucoma usually don’t notice any symptom.

They are all good and normal in the beginning, but then as the condition becomes severe all of a sudden the symptoms begin to show one by one.

Affected people don’t notice any change in the initial stages.

Glaucoma is often called “Sneak thief of sight” because one moment everything is I its place and then the very next moment the vision becomes blurry and black spots appear in your vision.

In this case, not only central vision is blurred/lost, but the peripheral vision also decreases.

Studies and surveys have shown some most common complaints that patients with glaucoma make.

Some of the symptoms are as follows:

• Hazy or blurred vision
• The appearance of rainbow-colored circles around bright lights
• Severe eye and head pain
• Nausea or vomiting (accompanying severe eye pain)
• Sudden sight loss
• Redness of the eye
• Decreased vision

All the symptoms mentioned above usually develop at that stage where the condition has somewhat worsened.

Normally, the signs and symptoms of other disorders appear way before the condition reaches its severity.

Unfortunately, in Glaucoma when the optic nerve undergoes a major damage due to increased pressure in the eye, then the symptoms begin to show.

At that time, the patients already know that something is wrong with their eyes and it becomes very difficult, in fact impossible, to undo the damage.

Thus, these symptoms would have been good if they appeared sometime before the damage.

Their late appearance doesn’t help much.

What is the treatment of Glaucoma?

The damage caused by glaucoma is permanent. Although, that damage can’t be reversed, but it can be made better.

The ultimate goal of treatment of glaucoma is to prevent the loss of vision.

The biggest danger is that of blindness, once the vision is lost it is lost forever.

But the good news is that it can be prevented.

Your ophthalmologist will have to go through several tests of your eyes and then let you know that which treatment is suitable for your type of glaucoma.

Several treatments exist to help you tolerate minimum damage. Some of the treatments are discussed below.

Eye Drops

In order to control the pressure building in your eyes take proper medications exactly as prescribed by your doctor.

Make sure you tell your doctor about every other medicine you are taking at the moment.

Why? Because sometimes your eye drops are absorbed into the bloodstream and they might react with other medicines which can create another problem.

When you use eye drops, use it properly.

Administer two to three drops in your eyes and close your eyes for better absorption.

Press the inferior nasal corner of your eyelid with your index finger.

This will close the tear duct which opens into the nose.

Since these are medicines and therefore they may give a stinging and burning sensation. But this sensation must not last more than a few seconds.

Pills

Sometimes when eye drops are not working to their fullest, doctors prescribe pills as well.

These pills work systematically and help in reducing the aqueous humor ie.

The fluid produced in the eyes.

When the fluid is produced in a controlled quantity it becomes easier to lessen the intraocular pressure.

Surgeries

When nothing else works, surgeries remain the final option.

A number of surgeries are applicable in the case of glaucoma.

Depending on the type and severity of glaucoma the decision of surgery is made accordingly.

How does Iris help prevent Glaucoma?

Now, let us tell you that how Iris contributes to preventing Glaucoma.

Iris is basically a software which filters blue light from the screens of your laptops, computers, tablets, and smartphones.

You all know that these gadgets have become an inseparable part of your life.

Unfortunately, all these gadgets come with severe drawbacks for your eye health.

You continue working on them for hours, but you don’t realize that the harmful radiations which are being emitted by them penetrate your eyes and cause serious problems.

Actually, these screens emit blue light which is extremely harmful.

That is the actual cause of all eye diseases. When you install Iris on your laptop or any other screen gadget it does not let the blue rays reach your eyes.

It simply acts as a barrier for all the blue rays.

Without Iris, blue rays reach our eyes directly, without any obstacle.

Iris is responsible for your eye protection. It helps you enjoy your working hours surfing and scrolling on your screens without worrying about the danger of glaucoma or other severe eye disorder.

These days, kids and young adults have a frequent access to these screens.

According to surveys and studies, maximum blue rays are absorbed by a human in the age of 20-25.

Greater the exposure, greater the absorption.

This shows that the blue rays start spreading its ill effects on people at a young age and as the age increases the chances of developing glaucoma increases too.

Now, isn’t it better to prevent this situation as the first priority?

Take the very first precautionary measure because with Iris you can prevent Glaucoma.