Departments

Department of Glaucoma

What is it attributed to? Aetiology, pathogenesis.

Glaucoma usually appears after the age of 40. It more often appears in people whose family has a history of glaucoma. It is a hereditary disease by 20%. It also develops more often in people with myopia, diabetes and people who assume cortisone for a long period of time. It is attributed to an imbalance between the production and the draining of a fluid (acqueous) that is normally produced in the interior of the eye. This disorder can cause increased intraocular pressure (normal values up to 21 mmHg) which, in time, can lead to lesions in our optic nerve. In some types of glaucoma, there may also be reduced blood flow and as a result, our optic nerve is not fed correctly. The reasons behind the reduced blood flow are mainly those that are related to our cardiac and vascular systems.

The pressure in the eye is undoubtedly an important risk factor, but that alone is not enough to lead to a diagnosis. This is so because for a glaucoma diagnosis to be certain, there must certainly be optic nerve and nerve fiber lesions present. Besides, there are forms of glaucoma without pressure (normal or low tension glaucoma) where pressure plays a lesser role.

If increased pressure in the eye is found and there are no lesions in the optic nerve, the nerve fibers and the visual field, then ocular hypertension is present and not glaucoma. It is a condition which does not necessarily require treatment, but close follow-up. We must know that only one in ten patients with ocular hypertension develops glaucoma in the end. If however, the pressure is greater than 27 or 28 mmHg, than it is very possible that glaucoma will develop and diagnosis is almost certain.

INCREASED PRESSURE THUS, DOES NOT ALWAYS MEAN GLAUCOMA.