What are the Effects of Glaucoma on the Eye?

The primary effects of glaucoma on the eye are related to the damage it causes in a person's optic nerve. When someone suffers with glaucoma, the eye will generally be too full of fluid, and this leads to pressure. Over time, this will cause the individual's optic nerve to deteriorate, and this leads to vision loss. Another of the common effects of glaucoma on the eye is eye pain, although some types of glaucoma don’t produce any recognizable symptoms until they do serious damage to a person's vision.

There are a few different kinds of glaucoma, and it the condition can happen for a large variety of reasons. Some forms of glaucoma are primarily environmental, while other kinds can be inherited. The effects of glaucoma on the eye are potentially severe, regardless of which kind of glaucoma is involved, but some varieties have much more obvious symptoms. The most common kind of glaucoma has the least-noticeable symptoms, so many sufferers may not realize they have a problem before serious vision damage occurs.

There are many treatments to deal with the effects of glaucoma on the eye. One of the most common approaches is laser surgery. There are several different procedures available, and although many of these surgeries won’t totally cure glaucoma, they can often moderate the effects enough to slow or stop damage to the optic nerve. For other patients, taking eye drops can be a more effective treatment, and some also take oral medications.

Many glaucoma cases are caused by problems with the opening where the fluid inside the eye drains out. This makes the fluid backup and build pressure. Other varieties are caused by some kind of blockage. Usually, glaucoma is inherited, but sometimes it can be caused by something like an injury or even eye strain. Once the disorder develops, it is basically degenerative, and it won’t go away on its own.

The vision loss that often occurs with glaucoma has been described as a slowly-closing kind of tunnel vision. The edges of the vision will generally start to deteriorate and darken. Eventually, this can close all the way down until a person can’t see anything. There is no way to repair any vision loss that happens due to glaucoma, and the optic nerve will generally never recover its full functionality again, which is why it is generally important to catch the disease early.