Glaucoma ??

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97tbird

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Fayetteville, NC
I am 39 yrs od.
well today i went for a regular eye exam, and eye doc said the pressure was up in both my eyes, (normal 16, mine 21) , and that my optic nerve has slight "cupping" (thickness of nerve less than normal), and that these are (very) early signs of glaucoma...

However he did mention that both my eyes, the nerve cupping looked 99% similar (symmetrical) which is not typical for glaucoma, so he THINKS it might be just that my optic nerves just look like that ... he said depending on race and all that, that it's pretty normal that some people (esp, african american, indian/asian (which I am) do have weird looking optic nerves... and children, too.
he has to run 2 other tests to see if my cornea is thick (better control of glaucoma) or thin (more risk for progression)...getting them done 1st week of feb.

i am scared, thinking i am gonna be blind, but the doc said not to worry right now at all and all i need to do is keep a check on it, and monitor every 6 months for now. He was optimistic about the fact that both eyes looked the same which he said gives him hope.

I know glaucoma is manageable, and that not many people die blind because of it, and doc didn't seem very worried at all, but I am scared nonetheless.

Glaucoma is normally Asymmetrical, and I don't get how both my eyes can have exact amount of elevated pressure and exact cross section of optical nerve. ... I hope that's how my eyes just are...

anyone know about glaucoma, anyone has it? what do you know?
 
Has this doctor seen you before and noticed a change?
Or is this his first exam and he is being very thorough and conscientious?
Very different scenarios!

So before the 'medical marijuana' jokes appear, it sounds more like you got scared, than a real problem.
No doubt you'll keep an 'eye' on the situation closely.
 
I'll give some info and hope it helps. I am a diabetic and since eye complications are common I try to keep informed on eye issues. Your eye has 2 compartments a aqueous humor behind the cornea, and a vitreous humor, behind pupil and over the retina. The vitreous is the great bulk of the eyeball, and since you mention the optic nerves is this where the pressure is high? The optic nerve joins the eyeball at a angle, so any distortion (pressure) will not synmetrically bend it. I thought glaucoma was excessive pressure in the aqueaous humor, since eye drops use to treat this can absorb right into it. This pressure distorts/stiffens the cornea, and can then lead to scarring and cataracts. The common air puff test would only seem to work on the cornea and measure it's stiffness, and I don't know if anterior compartment pressure would distort the optic nerve anyway. If both are the same "misshape" the a congenital type anamoly.
 
Originally Posted By: 97tbird
I am 39 yrs od.
well today i went for a regular eye exam, and eye doc said the pressure was up in both my eyes, (normal 16, mine 21) , and that my optic nerve has slight "cupping" (thickness of nerve less than normal), and that these are (very) early signs of glaucoma...

However he did mention that both my eyes, the nerve cupping looked 99% similar (symmetrical) which is not typical for glaucoma, so he THINKS it might be just that my optic nerves just look like that ... he said depending on race and all that, that it's pretty normal that some people (esp, african american, indian/asian (which I am) do have weird looking optic nerves... and children, too.
he has to run 2 other tests to see if my cornea is thick (better control of glaucoma) or thin (more risk for progression)...getting them done 1st week of feb.

i am scared, thinking i am gonna be blind, but the doc said not to worry right now at all and all i need to do is keep a check on it, and monitor every 6 months for now. He was optimistic about the fact that both eyes looked the same which he said gives him hope.

I know glaucoma is manageable, and that not many people die blind because of it, and doc didn't seem very worried at all, but I am scared nonetheless.

Glaucoma is normally Asymmetrical, and I don't get how both my eyes can have exact amount of elevated pressure and exact cross section of optical nerve. ... I hope that's how my eyes just are...

anyone know about glaucoma, anyone has it? what do you know?




Eye pressure fluctuates during the day, it is cyclic. You have to get your eye pressure checked several times over the course of one day, possible repeatedly, to establish a baseline. You also need to get the pressure checked every few months, always at the same time of day, to see if there is a trend change in pressure.

You have over the past complained about stress due to school and work. Especially if you are the hypertensive type, eye pressure is greatly influenced by your state of mind. Stress can raise the eye pressure dramatically!
 
My wife has had eye pressure problems now for around 20 years and uses drops to keep the pressures down to prevent eye damage.

A few years back she had holes burned in her eyes with a laser to help reduce the pressures.

Have a cousin too that has been using drops for quite sometime. He uses two different kinds.

Key here is early prevention and treatment. If you have any brothers or sisters, you may tell them to have their eyes checked too.
 
mechtech:
This is a new Dr., and this is of course the 1st time he saw me, and that's why he wants to monitor me every 6 mo. and see if anything changes.
On my previous eye exam with a different Dr, I am pretty sure he also did the "looking behind the eye" dilated pupil exam, but never said anything was abnormal !!! That's what i find weird; did all these changes appeared in a single YEAR? then I might be blind in 5 yrs !!!
(and there's hardly any change in vision from last yr to this appt)

or did the other Dr also notice that it was symmetrical and just didn't worry about it? ( I am going to call the old dr tomorrow)
or: did they (old doc) make a mistake and did the pressure measurement wrong? (they did the "air puff" method)

If it IS glaucoma, I don't get how I have the exact elevated pressure AND shape of optic nerve in both eyes...unless it's a totally weird case of glaucoma.
 
Is he an Optometrist or Ophthalmologist? I'm currently experiencing Ocular migraines where I see blue flashes of light in my peripheral vision sometimes and/or blurry vision. I was told by my optometrist that this could be the Retna detachment and he scared the [censored] out of me. I was then referred to an ophthalmologist who told me my Retna was fine and it was just ocular migraines from stress both to the brain and to the eyes looking at a computer screen all day. I see the ophthalmologist once a year now and nothing has changed... My pressure is 18.
 
Call your old doctor and talk to him. Have your chart and retina pics (which should be taken regularly anyway!) etc transferred to your new doctor.

When I was twenty my ophtalmologist scared me with the prospect of glaucoma. My eyes' pressure increase was due to stress at the time. The pressure did normalize by itself.
 
I was told the same thing about pressures a couple years ago. They then did some other tests and determined that my corneas are extra thick and the pressure meeter doesn't work well with my eyes.

You might want to see if they could do additional tests.

Also you can have pictures taken of your eyes, this will help over the years to see if there are any changes in your optic nerve. I get those every couple of years too.
 
I had iris melanoma (very rare) in one of my eyes a couple of years ago. Took 2 state of the art surgeries to get it all out. Will have to be monitored for spread for the rest of my life. I have (so far) been very fortunate with the outcome due to an excellent doctor. I'm only 35.

There was potential to loose my eye or even worse so I can understand what you are going through. Nobody knew what I had until I got to UCLA.

Make sure you go to your doctor regularly and getting a second opinion is also a good idea. Ask lots of questions.
 
You could go get a second opinion from another eye doctor and see what they recommend. Hope everything turns out okay for you.

I do eye exercises everyday but of course my intention is not to cure but to simple relax/massage the eyes.
 
Originally Posted By: msparks
I was told the same thing about pressures a couple years ago. They then did some other tests and determined that my corneas are extra thick and the pressure meeter doesn't work well with my eyes.

You might want to see if they could do additional tests.

Also you can have pictures taken of your eyes, this will help over the years to see if there are any changes in your optic nerve. I get those every couple of years too.


They did all that today and gonna test the thickness of cornea next appt in Feb.
 
Last edited:
Good luck, amigo. I hope it's all a lot of commotion about nothing. If there's more to it, glaucoma is "usually" manageable.
 
Have your Kidney function checked, blood pressure and Diabetes... Could be one of these causing the symptoms and once it's managed it could correct itself... Just a thought.
 
recently had all that done for some insurance stuff, and also had my annual check up;
all ok, except triglycerides; they were pretty high, but not high enough to warrant meds, doc said...and iirc, cholesterol was a BIT high, too...

perh. I should talk to my regular doc about those...

I am gonna call old eye doc tomorrow and ask how he could've missed that my optic nerve anomaly, and have him transfer my records to new doc.
and also gonna try and get an earlier appt for the other (cornea thickness) tests (he called them HRT and PAC)... I am too impatient and scared; wanna know as much as possible and asap.
 
Originally Posted By: 97tbird
where did that animation of me as a pot leaf go?


I dunno, but Groucho has now this mellow look on his face. He also smells funny.

PS: If you want that animated gif, I can provide you with it via a "top-secret" and "confidential" "eyes only" PM.
 
I don't want the graphic I want the real stuff!
LOL.gif
 
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