Acute Angle Closure Glaucoma
What is it?
Emergency Eye Condition
AAcute Angle-Closure Glaucoma is where there is a sudden rise in pressure; it can occur within a matter of hours. It is an ocular emergency as the eyesight can be permanently damaged if treatment is delayed.
Causes?
It occurs when the colored portion of your eye (iris) is pushed or pulled forward. This causes a blockage of the drainage angle of the eye.
The flow of clear fluid in the eye starts behind the iris comes through the pupil and leaves via a circular drainage channel at the base of the front surface of the iris. When it is blocked, the eye’s internal pressure (intra-ocular pressure) will spike and damage the optic nerve at the back of the eye that transmits images from the eye to the brain.
Symptoms?
Acute Glaucoma attacks are not always a full onset case. Patients can suffer a series of minor attacks. Symptoms of Acute Angle Closure attacks include:
- Blurring of vision
- Halos (rainbow colour rings around lights)
- Severe Pain
- Redness of the eye
- Nausea and/or vomiting
Treatment?
An attack of Acute Angle Closure Glaucoma can be stopped with a combination of drops; and tablets or injections. Treatment is directed towards breaking the attack by reducing the intra-ocular pressure which help clear the from window of the eye ‘the cornea’. As soon as the cornea clears to a safe level, the eye specialist will perform a laser iridotomy (a small opening in the peripheral iris). This will allow the fluid to flow more freely through an alternate drainage channel and so the eye pressure drops. The laser procedure is relatively painless and patients usually gain very rapid pain relief.
The entire procedure should take less than five minutes but a lack of corneal clarity sometimes means the procedure has to be delayed. Laser surgery may be performed prophylactically on the other eye as a preventive measure. This is typically done before you leave hospital or clinic, such is the perceived risk usually to the other eye.
Want to watch this related video animation?
Video: Acute Angle Glaucoma
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