Peter Constable

The glaucomas are one of the major causes of irreversible blindness worldwide, and their treatment represents one of the biggest challenges facing ophthalmology today.

Glaucoma is defined as a progressive optic neuropathy with charactersitic optic disc and visual field changes, where raised intraocular pressure is one of the principle risk factors.

This definition illustrates several key points relating to glaucoma :

- it is not one disease, but a group of diseases

- raised intraocular pressure is important but not the sole determinant

-untreated it causes progressive and irreversible visual loss

Treatments for glaucoma include :

Topical medications, Laser and glaucoma surgery

The choice of which option is the most appropriate depends on many factors including the type of glaucoma, the degree of optic nerve damage, and the degree of pressure reduction required - the "target pressure".

New advances, such as the use of heidelberg optic nerve head tomography have added significantly to the diagnosis and management of glaucoma.