Question:
Glacoma is most dangerous disorder. How in US an Optician helps patients suspect it? What are the latest mathods of dignosing a Glacoma?
Answer:
Maybe I can answer some of your questions. You are absolutely right. Glaucoma is a terrible disease and is very under-diagnosed and under-treated in this country as well as most of the world. Glaucoma is similar to high-blood pressure in that it does not cause any symptoms early in the disease process and it is many-times difficult to "convince" patients that they do have the disease.
By definition, Glaucoma is a disease that slowly destroys the optic nerve. In the past it was thought that elevated pressure in the eye caused the damage and if you had high pressures, then you had glaucoma. Today it is fairly well recoginzed that elevated pressures are only part of the problem. There is surely some vascular problem as well. People with diabetes or hypertension are more likely to get glaucoma which leads us to believe that poor blood flow is one of the causes.
The 4 main tests for glaucoma are: family history, tonometry, visual fields, and visualizing the optic nerve with ophthalmoscopy (the most important). Also a more recently developed test include nerve fiber analysis which may give an earlier diagnosis.
Once you have glaucoma, it never goes away. You will have it until you die. The goal in treatment is to maintain the patients vision as long as they live. Here in the U.S. medical treatment is usually done first. In other countries surgical treatment is done first. There was a study released last month that concluded that both medical and surgical treatments were equally effective.
There is also a new genetic test out called OcuGene that screen for genetic mutations associated with primary open angle glaucoma. As I said it is new as of Nov. 2001 and I have not used it yet so I don't know how well it works.
As far as your question about doing preventative surgery to prevent glaucoma....I do not knowof any at this time.
Good luck and I hope you have great success in educating everyone you can about this horrible eye disease.
Answer:
There are many tests for this, and once one is positive many of them should be used.
Some of thems are:
Checking internal pressure with a weighted pressure checking devise (tonometer).
Checking with an electronic devise (tonogram).
Checking with an air puff tonometer.
Measureing the visual fields (tangent screen and a looney wand).
Measuring peripheral vision by such a simple ploy and moving the
finger around the head from a central position (eyes straight ahead, finger moves) to around the side of the head until it disappears (not terribly accurate).
But, I repeat: This is called the "thief in the night" because once you see the symptoms, you have waited too late.
