The eye is undoubtedly the most important sensory organ of human beings. It is not the world that is beautiful, but your eyes that accept the world. But there is one disease that ruthlessly steals sight from the eyes, making it difficult for people to feel light any more: glaucoma. No loss of vision, no worries about life.

Glaucoma is not a disease, but a group of diseases.

"Glaucoma" is a very old disease, the name even dates back to more than 400 years ago. Whether in ancient Greece, or traditional Chinese medicine, there are records that this eye disease will eventually blue eyes called "glaucoma".

In fact, glaucoma is not a disease, but a group of diseases.

Threat or damage to the visual nerve conduction pathway, and eventually lead to visual impairment, mainly and pathological eye pressure related to a group of diseases or groups, is glaucoma. In layman's terms, intraocular pressure is similar to blood pressure.

The eyeball should maintain a complete dioptric system, in a stable spherical shape. The pressure caused by the supporting contents of the eyeball against the wall of the eye is the intraocular pressure. It is reported that the normal range of intraocular pressure should be 10mmHg to 21mmHg.

Normal intraocular pressure includes 95% of the normal population, and some people are high, but there is no damage to the optic nerve or visual conduction pathway, which is hypertension.

However, glaucoma is mainly related to pathological iOP, and the pathological IOP is different in different populations.

Glaucoma can be broadly divided into three categories: primary, secondary, and developmental glaucoma. It is understood that different types of glaucoma show very different symptoms.

For example, acute angle-closure glaucoma occurs when the eyes are red, swollen, and painful, along with systemic symptoms such as nausea and headache.

The primary open-angle glaucoma is different, there are no symptoms, unconsciously like the vision "stolen".

Because the causes of different types of glaucoma are very different, the age distribution of the disease is also slightly different.

Taking the two types of primary glaucoma as an example, primary angle-closure glaucoma is rare in people under 30 years of age, and the prevalence of over 40 years of age is 2.5% to 3.5%.

Primary open-angle glaucoma generally occurs between the ages of 20 and 60, and the prevalence increases with age.

It is worth noting that the proportion of women in angle-closure glaucoma patients is significantly higher than that of men, accounting for about 69.5%.

Depending on the cause, choose laser, medication or surgery

Glaucoma is an irreversible blinding disease. Now many people have a certain understanding of this disease, and some patients come directly to ask how many years the eyes can be blind. It's good to be alert, but don't get too nervous.

It is reported that according to relevant research data, after exhausting all treatment means, about 27% of patients eventually become blind in one eye, and about 9% of patients eventually become blind in both eyes. Therefore, having glaucoma does not necessarily mean blindness, and it is even possible to prevent blindness in nine out of ten cases.

How to treat glaucoma? With the deepening of the definition and understanding of glaucoma, the main treatment methods include laser, drugs and surgery.

In the case of primary acute angle-closure glaucoma, surgical procedures such as laser iridotomy can be used in the early clinical stage to stop its progression before damage to visual function is caused. For primary open-angle glaucoma, there are also many laser procedures for trabecular mesh, as well as a variety of drug treatments.

If these two methods do not stop the progression of the disease, surgery is needed, then there are classic trabeculectomy, development to non-penetrating small intestine resection, and development to the current MIGS surgery and a variety of minimally invasive procedures.

Parents and siblings with glaucoma should be aware

With the gradual improvement of the awareness of glaucoma from all walks of life, more and more citizens also feel that this "thief of vision" is on thin ice. Which groups need special care? This has become a matter of great concern to everyone.

People with first-degree relatives in the family, that is, brothers and sisters, who have glaucoma need to be especially careful, and the probability of developing glaucoma will be higher. At the time of screening, it will also pay more attention to those parents, siblings who have glaucoma, to prevent it from being detected in time. Some at-risk people with underlying conditions also need to be more cautious.

For example, people who have diabetes, hypertension, low blood pressure, vascular spasmodic diseases, migraines, and so on. Glaucoma is also linked to mood. Anxiety, tension, love of management, fatigue, but also easier to let glaucoma "find the door", "like angle-closure glaucoma love to lose temper, emotional excitement."

If suffering from glaucoma, should pay attention to what? How can blindness be prevented? First of all, we should avoid excessive fatigue and try to restrain tension and anxiety. Second, raise awareness of the disease. For patients with glaucoma, it is not an operation or the use of drugs can be worry-free, must pay attention to follow-up after treatment.

For example, glaucoma is mainly associated with pathological intraocular pressure. But intraocular pressure changes like waves with peaks and valleys, and when someone measures it and happens to be at the trough, he thinks it's good. In fact, this is not correct, we do not completely observe the eye pressure, but also observe the changes in the fundus and visual field. Patients who have already been diagnosed with glaucoma should follow up closely and ensure that they visit once every three months or so.