Sneaky Glaucoma

Today I went to see Dr. Weigt to have a checkup on my eyes. They used the Tonometer which is a device that measures pressure on my right eye (they don't have to do my left anymore since it is a prosthetic) and the pressure came back at 26. The normal reading range is 11-22 which means my pressure is high. This is what happened with my left eye before it started to swell due to secondary glaucoma. Pressure build-up causes glaucoma and it happens when the fluid that nourishes the iris (aqueous humour) cannot drain away.

The eye has two chambers, the anterior and posterior, separated by the lens. The anterior (front) chamber contains the visible eye components, such as the coloured part you can see(the iris), and is kept plumped up and nourished by fluid called aqueous humour. The aqueous humour has to keep draining to keep a constant, normal pressure inside that anterior chamber. When the fluid can't drain away, it leads to a build-up of pressure inside the eye. This is called glaucoma. and there are 2 types, primary and secondary. Primary occurs without previous trauma or eye disease and secondary is caused by trauma or is a by product of some other eye problem. It is a sneaky disease because it has no symptoms in the early stages.

Secondary glaucoma is now sneaking up on my right eye and so I have some new medication (drops) to take to try and get the pressure down. Dr. Weigt says we have other options with this eye as well so if this doesn't work AP will have to do some research to see what option would be best for me. She says she should go back to school and become a vet because she already has to do so much research for me.