Glaucoma - Symptoms of Glaucoma

There are two major types of glaucoma: open-angle glaucoma and acute closed-angle glaucoma. Most glaucoma patients have open-angle glaucoma. There are usually no signs or symptoms in the early stages of open-angle glaucoma. The first sign is usually loss of vision, which is why the disease is sometimes referred to as the "sneak thief of sight." Vision loss caused by glaucoma cannot be restored.

Primary open-angle glaucoma progresses with few or no symptoms until the condition reaches an advanced stage. As increased eye pressure continues to damage your optic nerve, you lose more and more of your peripheral vision. If glaucoma is left untreated, you can develop tunnel vision and eventually lose all sight. Open-angle glaucoma usually affects both eyes, although at first you may have vision loss in just one eye.

Chronic glaucoma is insidious. If the pressure increases slowly, it will not produce any symptoms until it has done irreversible damage. In such cases, people may notice visual problems at first only when light is dim. Patients are often sensitive to glare. Most people with glaucoma do not notice symptoms until they begin to have significant vision loss. As optic nerve fibers are damaged by glaucoma, small blind spots may begin to develop, usually in the peripheral or side vision.

Congenital glaucoma It can be difficult to recognise symptoms of congenital glaucoma. If your baby or child has cloudy, white, hazy, enlarged or protruding eyes you should make an appointment to see your doctor immediately.
Warning signs of glaucoma are different for each form. Glaucoma is usually not noticeable until significant damage has been done to the optic nerves. With open-angle glaucoma, the most common form, an increase in intraocular pressure and loss in peripheral vision are key signs. A tonometer is an instrument that measures pressure inside the eye. It can show abnormal pressure that causes damage to optic nerves.

Closed-angle glaucoma, sometimes known as acute glaucoma, differs from open-angle in that the symptoms typically occur suddenly (although not always). The symptoms may include blurred vision, formation of halos around lights at night, pain and redness in the eye, and swelling and clouding of the cornea (the typically clear and transparent coating layer of the outer eyeball). The pain experienced can be so intense that it may cause nausea and vomiting or a headache.

It consists of a 10-item scale developed from the symptom checklist that was created for the Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study (OHTS). All items in the GSS address eye complaints, some of a non-visual nature and some of a visual nature, common to patients with glaucoma. The Glaucoma Symptom Scale measures symptoms of glaucoma as well as symptoms of glaucoma treatment. It provides a valid and reliable estimate of symptoms associated with glaucoma the normal score is 100 and implies absence of all glaucoma related symptoms.

Acute glaucoma tends to come on very quickly. Symptoms include pain and blurred vision. Some people also feel sick, faint and vomit. In the early stages you may see misty rainbow coloured rings around white lights. If you think you are having an attack of acute glaucoma, you should go to hospital immediately.

Open angle glaucoma usually produces slow loss of peripheral vision. There are often blind spots. Closed angle glaucoma usually produce sudden eye pain or headache. There may be nausea and vomiting. The eye is red, and there is blurred vision. Colored halos appear around bright objects.
Corwin Brown

The Causes of Blindness

A recent analysis of data indicates that vitamin A deficiency is the leading cause of childhood blindness. It was estimated that 70% of the 500,000 children who become blind annually do so because of xerophthalmia. This corresponds to a prevalence of roughly 1 million in view of the high mortality among affected children.

Hemianopsia can result when a hemorrhagic, thrombotic, or embolic stroke affects part of the optic pathway Associated signs and symptoms vary according to the location and size of the stroke, but may include a decreased LOC; intellectual deficits, such as memory loss and poor judgment; personality changes; emotional lability; a headache; and seizures The patient may also develop contralateral hemiplegia, dysarthria, dysphagia, ataxia, a unilateral sensory loss, apraxia, agnosia, aphasia, blurred vision, decreased visual acuity, and diplopia

The link between poverty and treatable visual impairment is most obvious when conducting regional comparisons of cause. Most adult visual impairment in North America and Western Europe is related to age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. While both of these conditions are subject to treatment, neither can be cured. Another common cause is retinopathy of prematurity. In developing countries, wherein people have shorter life expectancies, cataracts and water-borne parasites—both of which can be treated effectively—are most often the culprits (see River blindness, for example). Of the estimated 40 million blind people located around the world, 70–80% can have some or all of their sight restored through treatment.
Another disease is called Trachoma.

Trachoma is caused by a virus that affects the cornea and the conjunctiva or lining of the eyelid. The white part of the eye is called the sclera, and the colored part is the iris. The conjunctiva covers the sclera. Trachoma is contagious. It is spread by flies and contact with towels and other articles that have been used by people who have the disease. Physicians can cure the disease in the early stages by using medicines.

There are different causes of change blindness. According to scientists, change blindness can happen as a result of disturbance or disruption in visual continuity. This disruption can be either due to eye saccade, an eyelid flicker, an eye blink, a shift of the picture or even a film cut in case of a motion picture. In order to differentiate changes in the vision, it is important that there is effective coordination between the eye and the brain where one image is compared with another image that already exists in the memory.

Diseases: These are the leading cause of blindness. There are a variety of diseases that lead to blindness. Popular among these glaucoma, trachoma, cataracts, uveitis and diabetic retinopathy. While in some cases blindness occurs as a result of a parasitic infection in the eye, in others it occurs as a result of malnutrition. Blindness due to vitamin A deficiency is common in most of the developing and under-developed countries.

Glaucoma generally affects older people. This happens when fluids in the eye build up and cause too much pressure in the eye, damaging important nerves, etc.. To know what a person feels like with glaucoma, think of how your eyes feel after coming out of a swimming pool with a lot of chlorine in it. (This does not cause glaucoma, but makes the eyes feel as a person does with glaucoma)This disease can be prevented and eye doctors almost always check for glaucoma when a patient has an eye exam. If the person who has glaucoma doesn't take the appropriate medicine for the condition, they can lose their eyesight.


Corwin Brown

Working Remedies for Puffy Eyes

Puffy eyes appear for two main reasons. In almost all cases this all comes down to something that impacts us all and that is the natural aging process. Where puffy eyes appear in younger people the reason for this is usually hereditary. If either of your parents had baggy eyes then there is every possibility that you will as well.

Many puffy eye remedies exist and we shall investigate them all but one of growing popularity is that of cosmetic surgery. Many celebrities now use this almost as much as buying packet of pills over the counter.

Generally speaking though most people don't go down that route for two reasons, the natural fear of surgery and the price tag that comes with it. Eyelid cosmetic surgery prices start at around $3,000 and go up after that depending on what clinic you use. That makes it a non-starter for so many people.

Dr Brandt, Peter Thomas and all of the leading cosmetic brands have a full range of eye cream products and solutions. Without question all of them have expensive ingredients and that means a small jar comes with a rather large pricing structure.Yet again like the surgery option this presents a barrier for most people. With surgery it is a large payment in advance and with this one it is smaller payments but have to be found on a regular basis.

For the average John or Jane Doe these options are simply too expensive and yet they are left with the problem of puffy eyes. Medical costs are prohibitive for most and the creams and solutions get mixed response and carry a heavy enough price tag to push them out of reach as an ongoing and regular remedy.

It is little wonder then that many people turn to cheaper home made puffy eye remedies or natural remedies for baggy eyes. Sadly a great deal of nonsense is written and passed on to people suffering from puffy eyes and most of it is utter rubbish.

I have included sensible and proven approaches to some remedies you can easily do at home which will give you some major improvements and will not break the bank in the process. These are simple to do and will give you the best and quickest results that I know of:

Regular sleep of 8 hours per night Drinking water throughout the day The juice of a lemon Slices of potato, cucumber or moist teabags applied to the eyes.

We live in a fast moving world and time becomes ever more precious. Puffy eyes remedies need to be quick and easy to do and all of the above do exactly that.

Regular sleep and by that I mean a full eight hours per night will have an amazing impact in reducing dark or bags around the eyes. Drinking water regularly helps hydrate the body and this can be done throughout the day without any real difficulty.

Put some lemon juice on to cotton wool or a cotton pad. Then close your eyes and rub this juice onto the dark rings. Make sure the juice does not go directly into the eye.

Using cooled down but still moist teabags, slices of cucumber or slices of raw potato. lay back and place one on each closed eye and over the lids and dark rings. Leave them there for some time and at least 10 minutes. In around a month's time you should see considerable improvement.

I hope you have found this article useful in identifying the many puffy eyes remedies that are available.

For more deatiled and useful information have a look at my Puffy Eyes Remedies website where you will find some great articles including a detailed article on Home Remedies for Puffy Eyes. I hope you find these articles informative and of value.

by GEOFF MAGEE