Glaucoma Science Quiz
Glaucoma is a common disease that seriously endangers vision. However, because people do not know enough about glaucoma, or there are some misunderstandings, they take the treatment of glaucoma lightly, so that the best time to treat glaucoma is delayed, and they only seek medical treatment when their vision has been seriously damaged, causing irreparable damage and great pain to patients and their families. The following is a brief explanation of the issues of concern to glaucoma patients, hoping to help glaucoma patients and their families and friends.
1.What is glaucoma?
The normal eye has a certain pressure, namely intraocular pressure, generally 10-21mmHg, to maintain the shape and function of the eye. When the intraocular pressure or intermittent or continuous increase, more than the highest level tolerated by their own eyes, can cause damage to the optic nerve of the fundus, visual field defects and a series of visual function damage is called glaucoma. If left untreated, the visual field can be completely lost or even blind. Glaucoma is a type of disease, and various types of glaucoma have different symptoms.
2. What kinds of glaucoma are there?
Glaucoma is divided into primary glaucoma, including closed-angle and open-angle glaucoma, which is the main type of glaucoma we usually refer to, mainly closed-angle glaucoma in China. There are also congenital glaucoma and secondary glaucoma caused by other diseases of the eye, such as corneal leukoplakia, iridocyclitis, ocular trauma, fundus vasculopathy, intraocular tumors, etc.
3.Who is prone to glaucoma?
From the epidemiological survey data, we know that glaucoma can occur in people of all ages, from children to the elderly, over the age of 35 or 40, highly farsighted people, highly myopic people, especially those who face the computer fluorescent screen for 9 hours or more a day, people with diabetes, people with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, people who smoke and have high blood pressure, and people with a family history of glaucoma have a higher chance of getting glaucoma than normal people. The chance of getting glaucoma is more than normal people.
4. Is glaucoma hereditary?
Glaucoma is hereditary, but the offspring of glaucoma patients do not necessarily have glaucoma, but have a higher chance of getting glaucoma than normal people, so people over 40 years old with a family history of glaucoma should have regular eye examinations.
5. Is glaucoma a bilateral eye disease?
Yes. 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 can be carried out, such as for closed-angle glaucoma, a nightly drop of Mao Guo Yunxin eye drops or preventive surgery, which should be carried out under the guidance of a professional physician.
6.What is the cause of glaucoma?
The exact cause of glaucoma is not known. It is generally believed that some factors cause excessive production of intraocular fluid (atrial fluid), or the normal channels of drainage from the eye are blocked or obstructed, resulting in the accumulation of atrial fluid in the eye causing high intraocular pressure and damage to the optic nerve fibers and the blood vessels supplying them, resulting in atrophy of the retina and optic nerve papillae, affecting vision and, in severe cases, causing blindness.
7.What can trigger a glaucoma attack?
Glaucoma attacks can be triggered by many reasons, such as mood swings (great joy, anger, sadness), overeating, staying in the dark for too long, prolonged head-down reading, poor sleep, insomnia, excessive fatigue, etc.; medical activities such as infusion, enema, bowel cleansing and other treatments that increase the blood volume rapidly, systemic or local application of atropine drugs, etc. may trigger glaucoma, and in severe cases, acute grand mal attacks. In addition, the weather is also an important factor in triggering glaucoma. Glaucoma occurs mostly in winter and usually strikes within 24 hours of strong cold air invasion.
8.What are the discomforts of having glaucoma?
Glaucoma can have no symptoms and discomfort in the early stage, and patients often do not realize they have glaucoma, and only find out that the affected eye has gone blind during physical examination or when the good eye is covered. Some may also experience eye redness (especially more pronounced 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, and the symptoms can disappear after rest. Those who have the above symptoms should seek medical attention promptly.
As the disease develops, the symptoms gradually worsen, with swollen eyelids, distended eyes, obvious pressure pain, cloudy corneal edema and dilated pupils, accompanied by headache, nausea and vomiting, which can cause permanent blindness if not treated in time.
9. Can glaucoma be prevented?
No, it cannot. Only early detection and early treatment are possible. Therefore, for people at high risk of glaucoma, they should go to the hospital promptly when they have the above mentioned eye discomfort and suspect glaucoma attack.
10.How is glaucoma treated?
It is important to clarify what type of glaucoma you have and how far the disease has progressed.
If the glaucoma is primary closed-angle glaucoma, once the diagnosis is established, it should be treated surgically, and medication should only be used in preparation for surgery, when the IOP is still high after surgery and can be controlled with additional medication, or when the risk of surgery is high. Primary open-angle glaucoma can be treated with medication first, and medication is still the preferred method. The principle of medication is generally to start with a low dose of medication locally, and then increase the medication or combination of medication if the IOP cannot be controlled. If the IOP control is not satisfactory, the drug type should be changed or the dose increased. In general, if local medication fails, i.e., if all kinds of local medication can’t prevent the damage to visual function caused by the increase of IOP, surgical treatment should be used instead.
In congenital glaucoma, surgery is the principle of treatment, and drugs are used only as preoperative preparation.
The treatment of various secondary glaucomas is similar to that of primary glaucoma.
11.Can glaucoma be cured?
No. The main goal of current glaucoma treatment methods is to reduce the intraocular pressure to a level that no longer impairs vision and visual field. However, the degree to which the IOP is reduced so that it no longer impairs visual function is different for each glaucoma patient. Therefore, the treatment process, even after anti-glaucoma surgery, should be reviewed periodically to determine the ideal IOP for each patient and to maintain the IOP at that level, so glaucoma treatment is lifelong. However, as long as regular treatment and regular review under the guidance of professional physicians, we believe we can get the ideal result.
12.What should glaucoma patients pay attention to in their life?
Pay attention to rest and sleep, maintain a stable mood, avoid mental tension and over-excitement, regular living; moderate participation in outdoor sports in warm and sunny weather, sports should be gentle and rhythmic, such as walking, jogging, stair climbing, swimming, aerobics, dancing, gymnastics, etc., avoid strong confrontation, high mental tension, fast-paced sports, such as weight lifting, push-ups, boxing, wrestling, fencing, soccer, volleyball, basketball, etc. volleyball, basketball, etc.; do not stay in the dark for a long time, and do not wear sunglasses outside. Before watching TV or movies, it is best to take piroxin 1 or 2 times to avoid glaucoma attacks or aggravation.
Read or engage in close workers, light should be sufficient, do not work with low head for a long time, generally do not exceed 30 to 40 minutes, intervals should look away to relieve visual fatigue; do not overeat, should not drink an excessive amount of water, strong coffee, strong cocoa, tea and other beverages, each drink should not exceed 400 ml, a small number of times is better; drinks containing high alcohol concentration should be limited, low concentration can be moderate Drink.
If you drink beer, you can lower the IOP, but not in excess; eat more vegetables, increase fiber to facilitate laxation, and pay attention to protein supplementation, so that animal and plant protein complement each other; do not conceal the history of glaucoma in the process of medical treatment, do not have too much intravenous infusion, and try to slow down the infusion rate, and try to avoid causing a rapid increase in blood volume other medical activities, and usually use medication under the guidance of a professional The medication should be used under the guidance of a professional physician and should not be used indiscriminately. Read the drug instructions in detail before using the medication and pay attention to any contraindications to glaucoma; pay attention to the weather forecast and try not to go out when strong cold air comes.