Glaucoma Treatment

Sometimes called the ‘silent thief of sight’, glaucoma is an insidious condition that causes gradual loss of your peripheral vision initially, then later central sight as the disease advances. In Nigeria, glaucoma is the leading cause of preventable blindness. Two percent of people over 40 years of age have the condition, increasing to 10% as we reach 70 years. Because it is almost impossible to detect peripheral vision loss, glaucoma can develop without you realising it. Conditions like glaucoma are more common as we get older and can be present in your eyes without any noticeable symptoms. Visiting Riant Eye Clinic for regular consultations can diagnose glaucoma before it does any damage.

What causes glaucoma?
All glaucoma comes about due to damage to the optic nerve of the eye – the ‘wiring’ that carries visual information from our eye to our brains. There are many different forms of glaucoma, however the most common, primary open angle glaucoma, occurs because the pressure in the eye increases to a level that is harmful to the optic nerve tissue. Glaucoma is more common as you get older and if you have a family history of the condition. Refractive conditions like short-sightedness also make you more likely to develop glaucoma.

What can be done to treat glaucoma?
The only way to currently treat glaucoma is by lowering the pressure of the eye to a level that is unlikely to cause further damage to the optic nerve. This can be done with daily glaucoma eye drops, laser glaucoma procedures or glaucoma surgery.

At Riant Eye Clinic we use advanced diagnostic equipment to monitor for signs of problems in the back of your eye. This includes retinal scanning (known as OCT), ocular photography, autofluorescence imaging, visual field testing, pressure testing of the fluid in your eye (known as IOP) and measurements of the thickness of ocular tissue.