the glaucomas
There are many types of glaucoma. The two most common are Chronic Open Angle Glaucoma and Acute Glaucoma
In Acute Glaucoma there is a sudden, usually painful rise in eye pressure. When you attend Barnard Levit for the first time, a simple test is performed to see if you are at risk of ever developing this condition.
However, the most prevalent type of glaucoma is Chronic Open Angle Glaucoma (COAG), which is present in over 1% of the population aged 40 years and over, rising to about 2% over the age of 80 years. If one of your family has this condition, you have a higher risk of developing glaucoma.
COAG is a condition in which the blood supply to the optic nerve inside the eye is not efficient causing slow loss of peripheral vision. The disease is insidious with no symptoms until after many years.
Because in the early stages COAG usually produces only subtle changes diagnosis in the early stages can be very difficult. Regular eye examinations ever one or two years for all adults whether or not they wear spectacles are important.
Detection of the disease is made using careful examination of the optic nerve. At Barnard Levit your retina and optic nerve will usually be photographed at every routine examination enabling us to compare the appearance with previous photographs. In addition, and just as important, we usually carry out a Humphrey Visual Field assessment at every routine examination.
In order to diagnose glaucoma at an earliest possible stage, so that its treatment is most effective, we now routinely use revolutionary technology, the GDx Vcc nerve fibre analyser, which enables us to measure the nerve fiber layer around the optic nerve. This layer is the most sensitive to glaucoma damage and will often reveal damage years before any visual field defect is detected.
The Stratus OCT (Optical coherence tomographer) is the newest technology, which enables us to accurately measure the optic nerve and the nerve fibre layer, for base line and subtle change detection.
This new technology is invaluable for early diagnosis, monitoring of at risk cases and effectiveness of treatment in patients with established glaucoma.Many members of the public believe that an eye pressure check is “the glaucoma test”. This is a fallacy and is misleading. High eye pressure is simply another risk factor like age or family history. One can have glaucoma with normal and even low eye pressures. Your eye pressures will be checked to add to the clinical picture.
If you are diagnosed as having glaucoma there are very modern treatments available to arrest or slow up the progress of the condition and save your sight.
