Glaucoma is a disease which is caused by the
development of the excessive pressure in the eye which may lead to the visual
loss and cannot be retrieved again. The core purpose of the glaucoma treatment
is to reduce the intraocular pressure
(IOP) and slow the process of loss of vision. It is intrinsic to understand that the
pressure inside the eye increases due to the increment of amount of fluid
inside the eye. Therefore, the treatment
of Glaucoma targets to reduce the amount of fluid being formed and if that is
not being alleviated by medicines, treatment procedures such as laser treatment
and conventional surgery are used.
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Loss of vision in the eye due to high pressure causing optic nerve damage |
The
treatment of glaucoma begins with application of medications such as ophthalmic solutions such as eye drops which
includes the following classes of drugs:
Prostaglandins: It is sometimes considered as the first-line
therapy for glaucoma. It usually works by relaxing the muscles of the eyes and
draining of the fluids which enables the pressure to be reduced. The latanoprost,bimatoprost, tafluprost, travoprost are some
of the common prostaglandin analogues used in the treatment of glaucoma.
Beta
blockers: It helps reduction of intraocular pressure (IOP) by
enervated production of fluids in the eye. Examples include timolol,
levobunolol, carteolol, metipranolol and betaxolol. Sometimes, these are
used in combinations of drugs in order to attain effective treatment outcome.
Alpha-adrenergic agonists: It also
plays role in the reduction of ocular fluids and prevents further production of
it, thereby, reducing the overall ocular pressure.Examples include apraclonidine,
dipivefrin and brimonidine. It can also be used after the laser trabeculoplasty
(described below) is conducted.
Cholinergic agents:
The drug such as pilocarpine is used in the
treatment of glaucoma.
Carbonic anhydrase inhibitors: The
medications such as carbonic anhydrase inhibitors are mainly responsible for
reduction of fluids in the ocular cavity. It also plays certain role of
excretion of water from the body leading to more frequent urination. The drugs
such as dorzolamide
and brinzolamide are used in the treatment of Glaucoma.
Combination glaucoma drugs: The drugs are combined with one another and
used in the liquid dosage form to increase compliance and to obtain highest patient
outcome amongst patients.
If the medications
are not sufficient to reduce the adverse condition of the patient, the other
strategies of treatments are adopted. Such strategies are more complex and
demands technical expertise in order to treat the ailment. They are given as
follows:
Laser treatment/Trabeculoplasty: It is
a laser treatment where the eye is exposed to the laser beam which causes some
burns in the eyes tissues as a result of which the excessive fluid in the eye
is exudates causing reduction in the eye pressure. It is a very complex process
which includes expert diagnosis and study of the physiological a deviation to
upshot the required consequences.
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Laser Trabeculoplasty |
Conventional surgical procedures/ Trabeculectomy: The
conventional surgical procedure is an alternate form of treatment in circumstances
where medications are effective in upbringing of the desirable result. The surgical
operations are carried out such that drainage of the ocular fluid is initiated by
the removal of certain tissues in the eye wall.
Glaucoma is one of
the leading causes of blindness in the world at present. The sooner, the
problem is diagnosed, the better the ailment can be treated and therefore, the
active consultancy to an expert ophthalmologist is always preferable.