Glaucoma
and
its Treatment

Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of blindness in the World. It is a disease that typically affects older people, but it can occur at any age, even in the newborn. Loss of vision is preventable if the disease is detected early and treatment is started. Glaucoma is typically known as a disease of high pressure inside the eye causing damage to its structures, but some eyes are sensitive even to lower pressures-normal tension glaucoma.

Dr Khalil Doctoral thesis in Japan was on glaucoma. Since then, he has a very wide range of publications on the subject, including glaucoma book sections in many international reference Ophthalmology books, teaching surgical atlases, explaining his surgical techniques. As he is pioneering a successful surgical technique for the management of the difficult glaucoma in the newborn and infants, he has many cases referred to him from all over Egypt and abroad. He was an active member in the Glaucoma Unit in Kyushu University for almost 5 years, and is currently responsible for managing the Glaucoma Unit in Cairo RIO for the past 15 years.

In the healthy eye, a clear fluid called aqueous humor circulates inside the front portion of your eye. To maintain a constant healthy eye pressure, your eye continually produces a small amount of aqueous while an equal amount of this fluid flows out of the eye. In glaucoma, the aqueous humor does not flow out of the eye properly. Fluid pressure in the eye builds up and, over time, causes damage to the optic nerve fibers.

The eye has about 1 million tiny nerve fibers which run from the back of the eye to the brain. These nerve fibers allow us to see. When the pressure rises in glaucoma, it presses on these nerve fibers causing their damage.

What is Glaucoma?

Simply put, it is a rise of eye pressure over the limit which is healthy for cells of the eye

The normal eye pressure

The average pressure for most people is 10-21. In classic glaucoma the optic nerve becomes damaged when the pressure gets above 21. This is called Primary Open Angle Glaucoma. However, Many people with a susceptibility to glaucoma do have optic nerve damage with much lower pressures. This is called Normal Tension Glaucoma

SAVING YOUR SIGHT WITH A SIMPLE TEST

For most people with glaucoma, there are absolutely no warning signs, The only way to detect glaucoma and preserve your sight is to be tested by an eye specialist. During the steps of glaucoma consultation with Dr Khalil, he is going to measure your eye pressure by ‘applanation’, the preferred method of testing eye pressure; the eye is anesthetized with eye drops and you are asked to look at a blue light. Then, using a special instrument, Dr Khalil briefly touches the surface of the eye to measure the pressure. He will also look inside the eye to examine the nerve that connects the eye to the brain. The test itself is simple and painless. If there are any abnormalities, additional testing may be needed.