Narrow Angle Glaucoma

Upon his first visit to the eye doc... Mike had to wait to have his eyes dilated. He has very small canals/angles in his eyes... on a scale of 1 to 4 - 4 being the largest... he is a 1. He has glaucoma called narrow angle or angle closure... he must be checked yearly to gauge the rate of closure to these angles... it could be very slow... for this we hope. Or it could be instantaneous...this is apparently very painful... there are laser procedures that can be done if in the case the angles do start to close... again we're hoping this does not happen but it is possible... here are some more facts... yes this is a genetic disease... ever wonder about the fact that only he has brown eyes out of his sibs... this is a sign... those with brown eyes usually contract the genetic defect!

Angle-closure glaucoma, also called closed-angle glaucoma, occurs when the iris bulges forward to narrow or block the drainage angle formed by the cornea and the iris. As a result, aqueous fluid can no longer access the trabecular meshwork at the angle, so the eye pressure increases abruptly. Angle-closure glaucoma usually occurs suddenly (acute angle-closure glaucoma), but it can also occur gradually (chronic angle-closure glaucoma.)

Many people who develop closed-angle glaucoma have an abnormally narrow drainage angle to begin with. This narrow angle may never cause any problems, so it may go undetected for life.


Glaucoma is not just one disease, but a group of conditions resulting in optic nerve damage, which diminishes sight. Abnormally high pressure inside your eye (intraocular pressure) usually, but not always, causes this damage.

Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness. Sometimes called the silent thief of sight, glaucoma can damage your vision so gradually you don't notice any loss of vision until the disease is at an advanced stage. The most common type of glaucoma, primary open-angle glaucoma, has no noticeable signs or symptoms except gradual vision loss.

Early diagnosis and treatment can minimize or prevent optic nerve damage and limit glaucoma-related vision loss. It's important to get your eyes examined regularly, and make sure your eye doctor measures your intraocular pressure.
Symptoms

The most common types of glaucoma — primary open-angle glaucoma and acute angle-closure glaucoma — have completely different symptoms.

Primary open-angle glaucoma signs and symptoms include:

* Gradual loss of peripheral vision, usually in both eyes
* Tunnel vision in the advanced stages

Acute angle-closure glaucoma signs and symptoms include:

* Severe eye pain
* Nausea and vomiting (accompanying the severe eye pain)
* Sudden onset of visual disturbance, often in low light
* Blurred vision
* Halos around lights
* Reddening of the eye

Both open-angle and angle-closure glaucoma can be primary or secondary conditions. They're called primary when the cause is unknown and secondary when the condition can be traced to a known cause, such as eye injury, inflammation, tumor, or advanced cataract or diabetes. In secondary glaucoma, the signs and symptoms can include those of the primary condition as well as typical glaucoma symptoms.