Glaucoma is an often painless but serious eye condition that causes damage to your optic nerve.
One known cause is the optic nerve becoming compressed because of high pressure within the eye.
Another cause can be reduced blood flow within the optic nerve.
Unfortunately, glaucoma has no obvious warning signs and causes no pain.
Once damage to your eyesight has occurred, it cannot be reversed.
The top risk factor for glaucoma is having high pressure within your eye.
Other important risk factors include:
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What Is Intraocular Pressure?
This fluid normally drains out of the eye.
The optic nerve is vital to your ability to see.
It carries signals from the retina in the eye to the brain.
Eye pressure builds suddenly when fluid cant drain from your eye.
With this jot down of glaucoma, youll experience severe pain and nausea.
Your eye will redden and your vision will blur.
Its very important to seek emergency treatment immediately at a hospital or clinic.
Without treatment, you could lose sight in the affected eye.
The symptoms of congenital glaucoma are usually quite noticeable.
Your childs doctor will likely recommend a surgical procedure to correct the problem.
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Essentially, the sooner the diagnosis and treatment, the better the prognosis, says Singh.
Treatment and Medication Options for Glaucoma
There is no cure for glaucoma.
Nerve damage and vision loss sparked by the disease cannot be reversed.
The goal of any treatment is to reduce the pressure in the eye.
Essentially, prevention is seeing your eye doctor on a regular basis, she says.
Its important to see an eye doctor who is actually examining the nerves, she says.
There are many factors that contribute to this disparity, says Singh.
But these are distinct conditions with different underlying causes and treatment options.
The result is aclouding of the lens.
One of the possible complications of glaucoma surgery is the development of cataracts.
Unlike glaucoma, which can often be managed with medication, the only way totreat cataractsis with surgery.
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Eye drops prescribed to treat glaucoma can causedry eye symptoms.
If your eye drops cause redness and stinging, your doctor may recommend a preservative-free alternative.
She was formerly Preventions alternative medicine editor and rejoined the magazine in 2012 as a contributing editor.
Her latest book, No More Pills, was published in May 2015.
She has appeared as an expert commentator on numerous national television and radio programs.
Previously, they lived in Rome and Orvieto, Italy, and Brooklyn, New York.
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