Talk:Glaucoma

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[edit] Re: Risk factors and diagnosis

In this section, the author(s) mention that Blacks (along with diabetics) have a higher risk of developing open-angle glaucoma, while Asians are more likely to develop angle-closure glaucoma. While I have no doubt that these passages may be statistically true, the presence of these assertions without any causal explanation is problematic.

People who are ill-informed about human anatomy will take this to mean that certain races will get one form of glaucoma more than others; in other words, they will think that Black people are only at risk for open-angle glaucoma, which is in no way true. Since race doesn't exist within human biology, it cannot be true. So it must be environmental factors that cause these differences. This should have been explained in the article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pinko1977 (talk • contribs)

I disagree with nearly every point.
  • For the scope of this article, asserting that Blacks are more likely to develop POAG and that Asians are more likely to develop ACG is completely accurate. A section detailing other risk factors and what is currently known regarding the pathogenesis of glaucoma would not contradict that assertion.
  • I fail to see how those without a background in anatomy would conclude that Blacks are only at risk for POAG from that assertion; for example, one does not infer that only teenage drivers get in traffic accidents from the assertion that teenage drivers are more likely to get in traffic accidents.
  • Regarding "race doesn't exist within human biology" - It sure does when you're in the clinic assessing risk factors and deciding whether or not to put a patient on Xalatan for what could be the rest of his or her life.
  • I fail to see how one would infer that environmental factors are the reason that Blacks are more likely to develop POAG and that Asians are more likely to develop ACG.
AED 06:17, 13 Apr 2005 (UTC)

i must agree with this last post. race is most certainly important and directly related to certain diseases, and glaucoma is one of them. i must infer the the first two posters in this section are not ophthalmologists or they would know this. and glaucoma is by far not the only example of this; diabetes is more prevalent in blacks, even after you account for known environmental factors. 24.28.169.144 13:06, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

The following was removed: "A 2004 study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health suggests that heavy computer users may be at a higher risk for the disease. [1]" The study states that heavy computer users with refractive error may be at a higher risk for glaucoma. The relationship to computer use is correlative, not causal. The stronger link to glaucoma appears to be myopia.AED 06:47, 13 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Pigmentary dispersion

One congenital form of glaucoma is where the iris is mis-shaped (posterior bowing of the iris) and causes pigment to disperse into the eye. The pigmentary dispersion can then cause blockages in Schlemm's canal, which raises the IOP (in my case, I had IOPs in excess of 40 mm Hg). Having this occur to me, and having been one of the early patients to be diagnosed as such (by Dr. Joel Riesman of the Boston University Eye Associates), the course of treatment was to have laser surgery (I believe laser peripheral iridectomy) to burn a hole in the iris of each eye. The fluid then corrected the shape of the iris due to the IOP which caused the dispersion to stop. It is unknown if the pigment will eventually drain out of the eye or not over time.

Some references:

—Preceding unsigned comment added by Stormerider (talk • contribs)

[edit] Comment

I'm a very lowly medical researcher. I haven't been involved in glaucoma research for years - but I think the article would benefit from mention of the role of ischaemic damage in glaucoma, and how this ties in with defects in the systemic circulation such as Reynauds and migraine.Notreallydavid 23:32, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Removed Block of Text

I removed the block of text below, because the spelling and grammar makes me suspect the source. It would be good information to have, though, so if someone wants to put it back with some citations, that would be nifty. --Mdwyer 05:49, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

WHAT CAUSES GLAUCOMA? clear liquid called aqueous humor circulates inside the front portion of the eye. To maintain a healthy level of pressure within the eye, a small amount of this fluid is produced constantly while an equal amount lfows out of the eye through a misroscopic drainage system. (This liquid is not part of the tears on the outer surface of the eye.) Because the eye is a closed structure, if the drainage area for the aqueous humor-called the drainage angle-is blocked, the excess fluid cannot flow out of the eye. Fluid pressure within the eye increase, pushing against the optic nerve and causing damage.

[edit] Malignant Glaucoma

I saw this word in my doctors folder Asesstment: Malignant Glaucoma 05 what does this mean? I asked her and she said it was cili- something —The preceding unsigned comment was added by JanieL612 (talk • contribs) 16:56, 8 March 2007 (UTC).

Ask your doctor to WRITE DOWN the medical term because no one else should be asked to take the responsibility of guessing what you might have heard. Here is a list of synonyms and related keywords: malignant glaucoma, ciliary block glaucoma, aqueous misdirection syndrome, ciliovitreolenticular block, ciliolenticular glaucoma, ciliolenticular block glaucoma, ciliovitreal block glaucoma, direct lens block angle-closure glaucoma, blindness, vision loss - from http://www.emedicine.com/oph/topic134.htm Cuddlyable3 20:26, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Nicknamed? By whom?

Glaucoma has been nicknamed "the sneak thief of sight".

Could there be some sort of attestation to the source of this nickname? I've not particularly heard of it, and I suppose it's possible that it's a widely used nickname, and I just haven't heard of it, but it would still be nice to see see some sort of sourcing within the statement itself as to who nicknamed it. --Puellanivis 18:47, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] GON

This abbreviation appears in the Risk factors and diagnosis section without previous explanation. Could this be added? Ta muchly.Mmoneypenny 21:04, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] GON - definition

Glaucomatous optic neuropathy - basically, an optic nerve that appears to have been damaged by glaucoma. For example, increased cupping, notching of the rim, nasalization or bayonetting of the blood vessels. Eyedoc 00:13, 30 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] AR malformations

The page on Axenfeld Rieger syndrom is lacking on links to it. I don't quite know how to write that part, but I understand that it is well establised that glaucoma has a high correlation with AR spectral disorder. Bunty.Gill 01:35, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Promising "nano" delivery device

“The nanoparticle can safely get past the blood-brain barrier making it an effective non-toxic tool for drug delivery,” said Sudipta Seal... [1] Brian Pearson 04:16, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Leading cause of blindness in the world???

I was researching glaucoma and cataracts on wiki and i found that in both descriptions it is noted that each is the leading cause for blindness in the world —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.84.120.77 (talk) 01:26, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Leading cause of blindness in the world - possible answer

Most likely what it meant was that Cataracts were the most common reversible cause of vision loss, and glaucoma was the most common irreversible cause of vision loss worldwide. In the united states cataracts are not a problem since they are surgically corrected (most commonly performed surgical procedure nationwide). Eyedoc 00:12, 30 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Diagnosis...instruments

Have added more instruments and cleaned up the diagnosis portion. Will add some context to the instruments and cite my sources soon. Jeremy Zabeleta 15:46, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] 3rd leading cause of blindness worldwide, not 2nd

They own reference given in this article states

"Cataract causes 41.8% of global blindness (15,829,000 persons), operable/curable cataract being the probable cause of the vast majority. • Trachoma (15.5%) in developing countries and the various types of glaucoma worldwide (13.5% of blindness) are two conditions that cause a major proportion of blindness"

Global Data on Blindness, Thylefors B, Négrel A-D, Pararajasegaram R, Dadzie K Y. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 1995; 73(1): 115–121

So it is the 3rd after Cataract and Trachoma. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.152.216.35 (talk) 10:22, 28 November 2007 (UTC)

COMMENT ON THIS POINT This comment is factually correct about the reference cited. However, this reference is now out of date, and has now been superceeded by..... Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Resnikoff,S.; Pascolini,D.; Etya'ale,D.; Kocur,I.; Pararajasegaram,P.; Pokharel,G.P.; Mariotti,S.P. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 2004;82:844-851. Proportions of total blindness: (1) 47.8% Cataract, (2) 12.3% Glaucoma, (3) 8.7% Age-related macular degeneration (4) 5.1% Corneal opacities (incl. Trachoma) Pauljfoster (talk) 23:25, 23 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Slight vandalism?

The first few paragraphs of this article all refer to glaucoma as being a "fake" eye disease. Obviously this is not true, and someone should fix it.

137.150.105.53 (talk) 20:19, 22 January 2008 (UTC) M. Omstead

Someone fixed it. --Mdwyer (talk) 22:35, 22 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Refences

I fixed the reference section to actually show the references. I also changed the first reference to a more recent paper. —Preceding unsigned comment added by WeOwnTheNight (talk • contribs) 16:28, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Incoherent paragraph

This paragraph is incoherent:

"The main risk factor of glaucoma demonstrated in animal models is recanalization of Hyaloid Canal. Hyaloid Canal and the tunica vascula lentis atrophy in the third semester of gestation. Occasionally, its system may persist after birth. In some people with some anatomical problem of the eye, intraocular pressure can be rise higher than normal. This condition as Pascal's Rule can make reopenning of hyaloid canal and distiributes the pressure, impact directly to Optic nerve head as a "Locus Minoris". It might causes Glaucomatous Optic Neuropathy. [2]"

148.87.1.167 (talk) 19:00, 24 March 2008 (UTC) The contributor who wrote this is apparently not a native English speaker. What I am more concerned and suspicious about is the reference purported to be from an Indonesian ophthalmology journal which has no PubMed listing nor Web link in spite of its modern date. It would be very helpful if another more accessible reference could be supplied so a writer of English could clarify the concepts for us all and corroborate the statements. Bcebul (talk) 23:24, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

In my searchings of the literature I cannot find any modern accessible reports suggesting a posterior segment mechanism of ocular hypertension. In a literature search I have not been able to corroborate the suggestion of pressure transmitted somehow through a reopened hyaloid canal to the optic nerve head. The accepted modern theory of ocular hypertension is an anterior segment aqueous humour mechanism. The anterior segment pressure is transmitted according to Pascal's Law through the whole eye. Whether there is a persistent hyaloid canal or hyaloid artery seems superfluous to this. Though, angle closure glaucoma can be associated with congenital anomalies of the hyaloid such as persistent hyperplastic primary vitreous. [see references in article] Bcebul (talk) 02:43, 15 May 2008 (UTC)