Glaucoma is a disease that causes permanent damage to the optic nerve from an intolerable level of intraocular pressure. This means that the fluid pressure inside the eye is too high. If left unchecked or uncontrolled, the pressure will eventually lead to loss of vision. There are genetic components to this disease that put you at higher risk to develop it if your parents or siblings do, so family history is always an important part of your evaluation.

Great Lakes Eye Care is equipped with doctors who diagnose and treat early glaucoma, as well as manage more moderate and advanced cases.

Open Angle Glaucoma
Primary open angle glaucoma is the most common form of glaucoma, affecting more than 2.5 million Americans. With glaucoma, there are often no symptoms that signal disease. This is because glaucoma first attacks the side (peripheral vision), leaving the straight-ahead “detailed” or reading vision perfectly normal.

Angle Closure or Narrow Angle Glaucoma
In this form of glaucoma, significant spikes in pressure occur and cause severe pain in the eye or eyebrow area. The pain is often accompanied by halos around lights, blurred vision, nausea, and vomiting. This is a medical emergency and requires immediate treatment by a medical professional.

Glaucoma Pressure Readings
There is some variation in “normal” eye pressure: what may be normal pressure for one person may not be normal for another. The average intraocular pressure is somewhere between 8 and 22 millimeters of mercury. Some optic nerves can tolerate a pressure of 30mm with no damage, whereas other eyes are permanently damaged by a pressure of 15mm. Once an optic nerve is damaged, the vision loss is permanent and cannot be recovered.

Surgery

Glaucoma surgery is usually reserved for those cases in which medicines are not sufficiently effective.

Glaucoma surgery has undergone a revolution within the last few years. Many of the newer surgical techniques for glaucoma are minimally invasive, allowing for a faster healing time. These are often referred to as “MIGS,” or “Minimally-Invasive Glaucoma Surgery.” At our surgery center, we perform many of these MIGS, including iStent, XenGel stent and goniotomy. Laser treatment can also be performed in certain cases. Ahmed tube shunts, trabeculectomy and laser trabeculoplasty are a few of the more traditional approaches to glaucoma surgery that we offer.

There are various factors you and your doctor will take into account when deciding which treatment option is best for you.