In glaucoma or ‘kala motia’, the optic nerve of the eye gets damaged due to an increase in intraocular pressure (IOP) or decreased blood flow to eye which causes decrease in the area of vision.
It’s important to treat this condition immediately as any loss of vision that occurred due to optic nerve damage cannot be reversed. The difficult part of this disease diagnosis is it never shows any symptoms in early stages.
Thus, it is always advisable for the individuals, with the family history of glaucoma, or whoever is at risk of developing this condition, to get their eyes examined regularly.
Glaucoma, like any other chronic conditions such as Diabetes or hypertension, can easily be controlled with proper medication and follow up.
TYPES OF GLAUCOMA:
- OPEN-ANGLE GLAUCOMA
This form of Glaucoma causes damage to the optic nerve which gradually leads to vision loss. This condition is totally painless. The outflow mechanism of eye is open.
- ANGLE-CLOSURE GLAUCOMA
In this type of glaucoma outflow mechanisms are closed. In Indian population, it is the most common type of glaucoma. Some of the common symptoms of this condition are severe pain in eyes, distorted vision, headache, vomiting, etc, but it can be asymptomatic also. Gonioscopy is needed to be done to see whether the patient has open or closed angle glaucoma.
- SECONDARY GLAUCOMA
Glaucoma due to previous intraocular surgery or any other eye condition or use of steroids is called secondary glaucoma.