Glaucoma is the term used to describe a group of eye diseases in which intraocular pressure is increased and causes progressive damage to the optic nerve.  As the optic nerve is slowly damaged, patients gradually lose their peripheral vision first, the central vision, and eventually  total blindness develops.

There are two major type of glaucoma, open angle glaucoma and narrow angle glaucoma.  95% of glaucoma seen in Lubbock Eye Clinic are open angle glaucoma.  It usually affects both eyes, though one eye may be involved earlier or more severely than the other.  It usually does not occur until middle life, though sometimes younger individuals are affected.  The condition tends to be hereditary.  It is not contagious and not related to blood pressure, food, or cancer. It is dangerous because most people do not notice any symptoms until after permanent damage has been done.  Therefore early detection is important because treatment can be initiated early and permanent visual damage prevented.

The diagnosis of glaucoma can be made only by a thorough examination including measurement of intraocular pressure, slit lamp exam, gonioscopic exam, and visual field test. Sometimes photos of optic nerve is taken to provide comparison from previous photo and the progression of glaucoma can be better assessed. Visual field test is used to evaluate the defect of peripheral vision.  It usually takes about 20 to 30 min and is done in the office.  Lubbock Eye Clinic is equipped with state of the art visual field analyzer that is capable of performing a complete visual field test in approximately 5 min per eye. All these tests are used to make the diagnosis of glaucoma and follow up of its progression.

Various eye drops that can lower the intraocular pressure provide the mainstay of glaucoma treatment.  Since they are all to be used for a long time, they are associated with various potential side effects. Your ophthalmologist will discuss with you about these side effects before initiation of such treatment.  Laser treatment and surgery are performed if eye drop therapy alone do not produce desirable pressure lowering effect.