Types of Glaucoma

Open Angle Glaucoma is the most common type. There is a kind of eye tissue called the trabecular meshwork, which acts as a filter for the fluid in the eye. For various reasons, this meshwork gets clogged or obstructed and does not filter the fluid efficiently, which, in turn, leads to high ocular pressure. Even though elevated eye pressure is one of the diagnostic tests used for glaucoma, approximately 30-40 percent of patients with open angle glaucoma have normal or low eye pressure and develop optic nerve changes and progressive vision loss without having elevated eye pressure. With open angle glaucoma, there are no visual symptoms until the disease has progressed, which results in gradual loss of peripheral vision.

Our complementary protocol is recommended for open angle glaucoma.

Narrow Angle Glaucoma is an ocular emergency. In this case there is an obstruction in the drainage of the acqueous fluid due to a narrowing of the angle between the base of the iris and the cornea. The symptoms can be a sudden, painful red eye, nausea, vomiting, headache and visual halos. In the event of the symptoms above, go directly to the emergency room and call your ophthalmologist.

Low Tension Glaucoma is usually a sign of poor circulation so that not enough blood reaches the optic nerve. Heart problems, brain tumors, or toxic drugs can all produce optic nerve damage that may present as glaucoma.

Secondary Glaucoma develops secondarily to other conditions, for example, due to inflammation, injury, blood in the eye or drug side effects (such as from steroids).

Glaucoma Suspects are people with higher than normal eye pressure but never develop glaucoma. Glaucoma suspects could include people with diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, heavy computer users, and people with extreme nearsightedness or farsightedness. They also include people who suffer from obesity, hyperthyroidism, and African Americans These people should be monitored regularly.

Our complementary protocol is recommended for glaucoma suspects.

Congenital Glaucoma may occur in the first few months of life.