Atlas of Glaucoma PDF

Introduction

Glaucoma is a diagnosis that may be readily and perhaps too frequently made based upon a variety of clinical findings by different eye-care professionals. This word does not describe a single disease, but rather a group of diseases with some common characteristics (see Chapter 2). The hallmarks of glaucoma are typical, usually progressive, optic nerve head changes and visual field loss (Figure 1.1) or the potential for them. Optic nerve damage (discussed in Chapters 6 and 7) and its corresponding visual field loss (discussed in Chapter 8) is often, but not always, reached in the setting of intraocular pressure deemed to be too high for the affected eye (Chapters 3, 4, and 12). All glaucomatous disease may have a common end point, that being irreversible loss of visual function and even blindness. Because "glaucoma" is not a single disease, there is no typical "glaucoma patient" or single best "glaucoma treatment."