Beware the “thief of sight”｜World Glaucoma Day
March 6 is "World Glaucoma Day".
The second week of March every year is World Glaucoma Week.
Glaucoma is a common blinding eye disease.
Vision loss from glaucoma is irreversible.
Some types of glaucoma are insidious and do not affect vision in the early stages. Patients do not have obvious symptoms such as eye pain and eye swelling.
By the time patients come to the hospital with symptoms, they have often reached an advanced stage, so glaucoma is also called the "thief of vision."
What is glaucoma
The main characteristics of glaucoma are characteristic optic nerve damage and progressive visual field loss (visual field loss refers to the narrowing of the range that the eye can see).
It is often associated with a pathological increase in intraocular pressure.
Pathologically elevated pressure within the eyeball can compress the optic nerve and cause damage to retinal ganglion cells in the eyeball, leading to optic nerve atrophy and visual field defects.
If patients do not receive timely treatment, they may eventually develop permanent blindness that cannot be recovered.
7 categories of high-risk groups
Anyone is at risk of glaucoma, but the following groups are at higher risk.
★For those with a family history of glaucoma, the prevalence of primary glaucoma patients over 40 years old and first-degree relatives (parents, children and siblings) is significantly higher than that of the general population.
According to statistics, the prevalence of first-degree relatives with primary open-angle glaucoma is 10 times that of normal people.
The prevalence of primary angle-closure glaucoma in first-degree relatives is 6 to 9 times that of normal individuals.
★In some areas, Asians have a higher prevalence of angle-closure glaucoma, and Africans are more likely to suffer from primary open-angle glaucoma.
★Elderly Elderly people are at greater risk of developing glaucoma, and the risk increases with age.
After a person reaches the age of 50, the lens gradually absorbs water and swells, the nucleus hardens, and the suspensory ligament relaxes, causing the anterior chamber to become shallow, the chamber angle to be narrow, and the aqueous humor circulation to be blocked, thereby causing increased intraocular pressure.
★People with refractive errors, hyperopia, short eyeball length, and small eyeballs are susceptible to angle-closure glaucoma.
People with high myopia are susceptible to open-angle glaucoma.
★People with high intraocular pressure are at greater risk of developing glaucoma, but not all people with high intraocular pressure will progress to glaucoma, so they need to be reviewed regularly.
★Patients with systemic diseases related to glaucoma. Patients with diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia may easily develop retinopathy if their diseases are not well controlled, and secondary neovascularization may block the angle of the chamber, leading to neovascular glaucoma.
★Users of certain drugs and long-term use of local or systemic glucocorticoids may suffer from glaucoma caused by hormones, which is related to the duration of medication, drug dosage and individual susceptibility.
remind
People with the above risk factors should have regular eye exams to detect glaucoma early.
5 common types
Symptoms for people with glaucoma vary depending on the type of disease and the severity of the condition.
Here are some common symptoms.
Acute angle-closure glaucoma Acute angle-closure glaucoma is divided into 6 stages.
Patients at different stages have different symptoms and signs.
1. Preclinical stage: The patient has no obvious sensation, but there are anatomical risk factors such as shallow anterior chamber and narrow chamber angle.
2. Aura stage: The patient has transient or repeated small attacks, which mostly occur in the evening, manifesting as foggy vision and rainbow vision, which may be accompanied by forehead pain on the affected side and soreness and swelling at the ipsilateral nasal root. Rest Can be relieved later.
3. Acute attack stage: sudden severe headache, eye pain, photophobia, tearing, and severe vision loss, which may be accompanied by systemic symptoms such as nausea and vomiting. The intraocular pressure is generally above 50 mmHg.
4. Intermittent period: Symptoms resolve spontaneously after a small attack, or after a major attack, the intraocular pressure is controlled after treatment.
5. Chronic phase: After repeated minor attacks or major attacks without effective treatment, intraocular pressure continues to rise, vision progressively decreases, and the visual range gradually shrinks.
6. Absolute stage: blindness, optic atrophy.
Patients with chronic angle-closure glaucoma have no symptoms such as obvious eye pain or vision loss, and their intraocular pressure gradually increases.
When patients seek treatment, their optic nerves have often atrophied and their visual fields are advanced.
Patients with primary open-angle glaucoma are almost asymptomatic in the early stage, but may develop reduced vision, blurred vision, and occasional eye swelling in the middle and late stages.
Children with congenital glaucoma have photophobia, tearing, blepharospasm, and excessively large and dark eyeballs.
Secondary glaucoma is often secondary to systemic diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes, eye trauma, eye inflammation, or patients who have long-term use of local or systemic hormones.
Based on the corresponding medical history, patients will experience eye symptoms such as red eyes, eye pain, eye swelling, and tearing.
remind
Patients with glaucoma usually have no obvious early symptoms, but if they develop symptoms such as blurred vision, visual field loss, eye pain, or headache, they should seek medical attention immediately.
4 prevention methods
Doing the following can effectively reduce the risk of glaucoma.
★Maintain healthy eye habits to avoid overstraining your eyes and avoid using your eyes for long periods of time in dim light.
★Develop good living habits, pay attention to the balance between work and rest, maintain emotional stability, and maintain good sleep.
★Managing systemic diseases and controlling hypertension, diabetes and other diseases can reduce the negative impact of these diseases on eye health.
★Avoid eye injuries Wear protective glasses when participating in strenuous activities that may cause eye injuries.
remind
Prevention of glaucoma is more important than treatment.
Regular eye exams are key to preventing glaucoma and protecting vision.
Author: Dr. Li Shuning, Chief Physician of the Department of Ophthalmology, Beijing Tongren Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical University, Dr. Xiang Fei, Department of Ophthalmology
Review: Wang Ningli, an expert in the National Health Science Popularization Expert Database and Vice President of Beijing Tongren Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical University
(Healthy China WeChat public account)