Glaucoma Disease Tests

Glaucoma disease can often catch people off guard, in particular the Open-angle glaucoma. Those patients who suffer with closed-angle glaucoma experience some vision related discomfort much before the disease causes serious damage. Therefore, they can often get help in time. Unlike this, the deterioration of vision in patients suffering with open-angle glaucoma is rather imperceptible.

Therefore, the person may not realize the difference till it is too late to do much about it. Glaucoma holds the second rank in causes for blindness across the world. As of now, there are six Glaucoma Disease tests. These are gonioscopy, tonometry, ophthalmoscopy, visual field measurement, pachymetry, and nerve fiber examination. In Gonioscopy, a mirror like object is used to determine the angle at which iris and cornea meet. This test identifies the type, and severity of the condition.

There is some fluid inside the ball. Tonometry is used to measure the pressure of fluid inside the eye ball. The pressure exerted by this fluid on the external walls including the ends of optic nerve is measured with this test. Under normal condition, this pressure should be around 21 mmHg. Such pressure within the eye is medically known as intraocular pressure. Glaucoma is normally presented in people who have intraocular pressure exceeding 21 mmHg.

Ophthalmoscopy or optic nerve imaging is done by the eye specialist, using special equipment, including magnifying glasses and digital cameras. The ophthalmologist assesses the health and condition of the nerve using such equipment. Visual field test is carried out to identify the eye's sensitivity to external visual changes. This test is also called perimetry.

The patient is made to look in a straight line at a light source. At times, some other object may be used. The patient is asked to report when and if there is any light flashing towards the periphery of his or her vision. Perimetry is now computerized. Pachymetry is gaining in importance as glaucoma test. In this, the corneal thickness is measured.

Recent research has shown some correlation between corneal thickness and intraocular pressure in the eye. Another recent glaucoma testing method is the nerve fiber examination. Varying thickness of nerve is indicative of glaucoma. This test is also used to assess whether the treatment is able to halt the disease progression.

Glaucoma Disease Tests are the set of tests which is used to diagnose that whether the vision of a person is affected due to any one of the number of diseases called as Glaucoma. The Glaucoma mainly affects the optical nerve of a person and hence the main emphasis of glaucoma tests is to measure the intraocular pressure or the IOP which is responsible for this disease. All the surgical or non surgical procedures used to cure this disease are to lower the intraocular pressure or the IOP which will ultimately cure this eye disease.

The glaucoma eye exam is done under the special conditions and is used to measure the eye's response to the different intensities and frequencies of light. Generally the main things that are noted in a glaucoma eye exam are responses to different light sources and hence this test is also called as the slit lamp exam as the light is passed to the optical nerve of the person by the use of optical slits.

Other things done in the diagnoses for Glaucoma are the optic nerve imaging and the retinal exam. Both these tests can be done in a single lamp test and the same can also be used to measure the pupillary reflex response. The common syndromes of the Glaucoma disease are the glaucoma eye dilation and the normal tension glaucoma. Other things done for the verification of other types of Glaucoma is the visual acuity and visual field measurement.

Both of these are done in diagnoses of other eye diseases also and hence the reports of these tests can form the early bias to confirm the Glaucoma. There are a number of surgical methods available to treat this eye disease like the gonioscopy and tonometry. Many of these use the concept of optical filtering. Many times a combination of different treatments is used to treat a patient.