Glaucoma is a serious eye disease that endangers vision, and if taken lightly, it can delay the best time for treatment. If you wait until your vision is very poor before coming to the doctor, it will bring irreparable damage and great pain to the patient and his family.
1. What is glaucoma?
When the pressure inside the eye rises beyond what the eye can tolerate, it can cause damage to the optic nerve and lead to clinical manifestations such as visual field defects called glaucoma. If not treated in time, the visual field can be completely lost or even blind.
2.What kinds of glaucoma are there?
Glaucoma is divided into primary, secondary and congenital. Primary glaucoma is divided into closed-angle and open-angle types, and closed-angle glaucoma is the main type in China.
3. Is glaucoma hereditary?
Glaucoma has a certain genetic tendency, but the offspring of glaucoma patients do not necessarily have glaucoma, but have a higher chance of getting glaucoma than normal people, therefore, people with a family history of glaucoma should have regular eye examinations after the age of 40.
4. Is glaucoma a bilateral eye disease?
Primary glaucoma is a bilateral eye disease, but the onset of the disease can be sequential in both eyes. Therefore, after glaucoma in one eye, the pressure and visual field of the other eye should not be neglected, and regular checkups should be conducted, and if necessary, preventive treatment should be carried out under the guidance of a professional physician.
5.What are the discomforts of having glaucoma?
Some patients often do not realize they have glaucoma because there are no symptoms in the early stage of glaucoma, and they only find out that the affected eye is blind when they have a physical examination or cover the good eye.
Others may experience eye redness (especially more obvious around the black eye), eye astringency, foreign body sensation, orbital soreness, nasal root soreness, eye swelling, migraine headache, red and green light circles when looking at incandescent bulbs at night, and blurred vision, which can be relieved or disappear after rest. Those with the above symptoms should seek medical attention promptly. With the development of the disease, symptoms gradually worsen, eyelid swelling, eye distension, pressure pain is obvious, corneal edema and cloudiness, pupil dilatation, and accompanied by headache, nausea, vomiting and other symptoms, if not treated in time, it causes permanent blindness.
6. Can glaucoma be prevented?
No, it cannot. Only early detection and early treatment are possible. Therefore, people who are prone to glaucoma should go to the hospital promptly when they have the above mentioned eye discomfort and suspect a glaucoma attack.
7.How is glaucoma treated?
First of all, the type and degree of glaucoma should be clarified. Primary glaucoma should be treated as soon as it is diagnosed, including drugs, laser and surgery. In congenital glaucoma, surgery is the main treatment, and drugs are used as an adjunctive treatment. Secondary glaucoma should first be treated etiologically, with drugs and lasers as the main treatments to control intraocular pressure.
Glaucoma cannot be cured, but with regular treatment and regular review under the guidance of a professional physician, ideal results can be obtained. The main goal of current glaucoma treatment is to control the intraocular pressure so that vision and visual field are no longer impaired. Therefore, during the treatment process, even after anti-glaucoma surgery should be regularly reviewed to maintain the IOP at the desired level. In a word, the treatment of glaucoma is lifelong.
8.What should glaucoma patients pay attention to in their life?
(1) Pay attention to rest and sleep, maintain a stable mood, avoid mental tension and over-excitement, and have a regular life.
(2) Participate in outdoor sports moderately in warm and sunny weather, and exercise gently and rhythmically.
(3) Do not stay in dark places for a long time, and do not wear sunglasses outside.
(4) Read or engage in close workers, light should be sufficient, the time generally do not exceed 30 to 40 minutes, the interval should look away to relieve visual fatigue.
(5) Do not overeat and drink no more than 400 ml of water each time; eat more vegetables, increase fiber to facilitate laxation, and pay attention to protein supplementation.
(6) Inform your doctor of your glaucoma history when you visit him/her, do not give too many infusions, try to slow down the infusion rate, take your usual medication under the guidance of a professional physician, read the drug instructions in detail, pay attention to any contraindications to glaucoma, and take preventive glaucoma treatment when vasodilators and atropine drugs are necessary.
(7) Pay attention to the weather forecast and try not to go out when strong cold air comes.