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Glaucoma

• Overview
• Symptoms
• Treatment
• Prevention

Alternative Names:

Open angle glaucoma; Chronic glaucoma; Closed angle glaucoma; Congenital glaucoma

Symptoms:

OPEN ANGLE

• Most people have no symptoms
• Gradual loss of peripheral (side) vision

ACUTE

• Severe eye pain , facial pain
• Decreased or cloudy vision
• Red eye
• Swelling of the eye
• Pupil does not react to light
• Nausea and vomiting (may be the major symptom in the elderly)

CONGENITAL

• Tearing
• Sensitivity to light
• Red eye
• Enlargement of one eye or both eyes
• Cloudiness of the front of the eye

Signs and tests:

An examination of the eye may be used to diagnose glaucoma. However, checking the intraocular pressure alone ( tonometry ) is insufficient because eye pressure changes. Examination of the inside of the eye by looking through the pupil, often while the pupil is dilated, is needed.

Usually a complete examination of the eyes will be done.

Tests may include:

• Retinal examination
• Intraocular pressure measurement by tonometry
• Visual field measurement
• Visual acuity
• Refraction
• Pupillary reflex response
• Slit lamp examination
• Optic nerve imaging (photographs of the interior of the eye)
• Gonioscopy- use of a special lens to see the outflow channels of the angle

• Review Date: 11/14/2005
• Reviewed By: Edward B. Feinberg, MD, MPH, Professor and Chair, Department of Ophthalmology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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