Glaucoma Medications
Medical Author:
Mary L Windle, PharmD
Medical Editor:
Richard W Allinson, MD
Medical Editor:
Francisco Talavera, PharmD, PhD
Medical Editor:
Robert H Graham, MD
What Is Glaucoma?Glaucoma is a disease characterized by increased intraocular pressure (IOP). (Intraocular means within the eye.) Increased intraocular pressure results from either increased production or decreased drainage of aqueous humor, a clear fluid within the eye providing structural support, oxygen, and nutrition to eye tissues. The resulting increase in pressure within the eye may eventually damage the optic nerve. This increase in intraocular pressure is by far the most common risk factor for vision loss due to glaucoma, but it is not the only factor involved. |
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Glaucoma Medications
Lens-Particle Glaucoma Overview
The crystalline lens (commonly referred to as the lens) is located behind the pupil and iris and functions as the natural focusing lens of the eye. The lens consists of an outer covering, called the lens capsule, which contains the softer outer cortex and the harder central nucleus of the lens. See Image 1. Either or both components of the lens may cause lens-induced glaucomas, which are typically associated with inflammation, abnormally high eye pressure, and potential visual loss. Lens-particle glaucoma may be either of the open-angle glaucoma or angle-closure type.
Lens-particle glaucoma can occur when fragmented lens debris is retained inside the eye following surgery or injury/trauma.
Following initial damage to the lens, larger lens nucleus or cortex pieces may spontaneously fragment further into smaller (sometimes invisible) particles that eventually migrate into the anterior chamber, where ...
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Glaucoma, Unilateral: Treatment & Medication »
While any type of glaucoma can be unilateral, primary open-angle glaucoma, primary angle-closure glaucoma, primary infantile glaucoma, juvenile-onset glaucoma, and pigmentary glaucoma are generally bilateral diseases, the severity of which may be asymmetric in the two eyes.
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