Healthy Living

Glaucoma or 'green cataracts' is a common eye disease that occurs especially in the elderly. Glaucoma is usually the result of excessive pressure inside the eye. This causes irreparable damage to the optic nerve, leading to a reduction in vision and, if not treated in a timely manner, ultimately to blindness.

There are different forms of glaucoma.

• Chronic glaucoma is the most common form and is usually the result of increased eye pressure. But it can also occur with normal eye pressure, or be the result of another eye disease or an injury to the eye.
• With acute glaucoma, the flow of fluid in the eye is abruptly interrupted. This increases the eye pressure quite suddenly and abruptly. This may occur after, for example, an accident (e.g. a blow to the eye) or by certain medicines that have a pupil-widening effect (e.g. medicines for colds, diarrhoea, depression and Parkinson's disease). This form of glaucoma is accompanied by sharp pains to the eye, headaches, a decrease in vision and vomiting. The eye is red, the pupil is dilated and the eyeball feels hard and tense. Acute glaucoma should be treated immediately. It can lead to blindness in two or three days.
  Who is at risk of chronic glaucoma?
  Anyone can get chronic glaucoma. However, there are a number of factors that increase the likelihood of glaucoma.
1. If you have an increased eye pressure.
   Glaucoma is usually caused by excessive eye pressure (more than 21 mm HG).
   A (too) high eye pressure arises as a result of an imbalance between the production and disposal of chamber water in the eye. The drain takes place via the trabekel system, a collection of small channels in the room corner between iris and cornea. In a normal eye there is a constant production and drain of chamber moisture. In people with normal eye pressure, the amount of this chamber fluid produced inside the eye is balanced with the amount of chamber fluid that is drained from the eye. When the drains constrict or become clogged, the eye pressure increases. Not everyone with increased eye pressure gets glaucoma. Your ophthalmologist can decide whether or not to treat the high eye pressure. On the other hand, glaucoma can also occur with normal eye pressure. Often a poor blood flow of the eye is then the cause. Therefore, an eye pressure measurement alone gives a false sense of security.
2. If glaucoma occurs in your family If someone in your family has glaucoma, you also have an increased chance of getting it sooner or later.
   This is not only about your sibling, parents or grandparents, but also if an aunt, uncle, nephew or niece has the disease, this is equally important. If family members in the first or second degree have this disease then the chance is about 10 times as high that you will get it in your life as well.
3. If you are 40 years of age or older
   
   • Although (chronic) glaucoma also occurs in children and young adults, the disease usually occurs from the age of 40.
     The older you get, the more likely you are to get glaucoma. About 2% of Belgians over the age of 40 have glaucoma, often without knowing it. This figure rises to 4% among over-80s.
   • Exceptionally, glaucoma can be congenital. This may make you as a parent to the abnormally larger of one or both eyes of your baby. The baby should be treated as soon as possible. After one or more surgeries, long-term treatment with glasses and orthopsia often follows to allow further development of the young child's vision.
   • Also exceptional, glaucoma occurs later in childhood, and as a parent, you often notice this too late, because the eye does not become abnormally larger once the baby age has passed. Since this form of glaucoma usually occurs in families, it is advisable that all relatives of affected persons be regularly examined.
4. f you are highly myopia.
   People who see strong myopia (more than -3 dioptae) are up to 2.5 times more likely to get glaucoma.
5. If you have had an eye injury
   If you have ever had an eye injury or an abnormality of the optic nerve, such as splinter bleeding, you have a higher risk of glaucoma. There is also a higher risk if the cornea is thin. A cornea thickness measurement is therefore often part of the glaucoma study.
6. If you have diabetes or cardiovascular disease.
   This can disturb the blood supply of the eye, which increases the risk of glaucoma.
7. If you have high or low blood pressure
   Although the eye pressure is not directly affected by blood pressure, this may have an effect on blood flow of the eye. And too low blood pressure is more harmful than too high. If you are treated for high blood pressure, it should not be too low.
8. If you are taking certain medicines
   Some medicines or eye drops (containing cortisone) increase eye pressure and therefore also the chance of glaucoma.
9. If you smoke
   Smoking can slightly reduce blood flow to the eye. That's why you're better off smoking.
10. If you are of African descent
    People of African descent have a higher risk of glaucoma.
11. Acute glaucoma
    Acute glaucoma usually affects people whose anterior eye chamber is shallow.
• It is more common in women and for farsightedness or cataract (grey cataracts).
• Some medicines may provoke acute glaucoma, e.g. some medicines for colds, diarrhea, depression and Parkinson's disease.