My father has been detected with glaucoma. Do we need to take urgent action?

Question

Hello doctor,

My father has been detected with glaucoma. The problem started about two months back. There is some irritation in eyes and vision is hampered in one eye. I wanted to get an opinion on how serious. What should be done? Do we need to take urgent action? Can we cure it completely?

Answer 1

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

The thing with glaucoma is that it is a progressive condition and we can arrest its progress to a level that it does not cause further damage. The vision loss that has already been done by the disease is not reversible. Our goal here is to lower the pressure to such a level so that it does not cause further damage. The severity of damage is assessed by perimetry, intraocular pressure and fundus examination for optic nerve head assessment. For the photographs, you have sent, in the left eye, the disease has progressed quite a lot and in right also it has started. The goal here would be to maintain intraocular pressure less than 14 in both eyes and do a six monthly perimetry to stop further progression.

Answer 2

Hi,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

Right now the pressure is 15 and 17. So no need for immediate surgeries. I can see your doctor has prescribed glaucoma eye drop. Use it as per directions given by your ophthalmologist. If the progression is controlled by drugs then there is no need for surgeries per se. You can wait for 10 days but use the drug prescribed to you.