All glaucomas?? How many kinds are there!??
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2.3 years ago
@deb

In this discussion about normal tension glaucoma, moderator Dave quoted the famous Dr. Ritch referring to "all glaucomas":

All glaucomas have a final common pathway of retinal ganglion cell death involving low-grade inflammation, oxidative damage, mitochondrial dysfunction, and glial hyperactivation.

"All glaucomas"??

Then in a reply on that thread you said

POAG is Primary Open Angle Glaucoma, or what we usually just call "glaucoma".

How many other "glaucomas" are there??

deB

glaucoma • 791 views
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Entering edit mode
2.3 years ago
@fiteyes_team

Glaucoma is an umbrella term, as you now know. I cannot name every type of glaucoma. I'll start a list and we can collectively complete it. However, as a patient, you usually only need to know the type of glaucoma you have. And it may be sufficient to understand the broad categories, which are:

  • primary or secondary
  • open angle or closed angle

Types of Glaucoma

  • Primary open-angle glaucoma: the most common type in the United States. It is also known as wide angle, chronic, simple, or just plain "glaucoma".

  • Normal-tension glaucoma: discussed here: What the heck is normal tension glaucoma?? | Ask FitEyes

  • Low-tension glaucoma: this term is often used interchangeably with normal-tension glaucoma, but some professionals make a distinction between these terms based on IOP ranges, and I prefer that approach now.

  • Acute angle-closure glaucoma: also called narrow-angle, congestive or acute glaucoma. It is a medical emergency when it happens. Those at risk can be identified by an eye exam. Having a tonometer and monitoring your IOP at home is extremely valuable for those at risk of angle closure. Narrow-angle glaucoma in general is the most common type of glaucoma in Japan and some other Asian regions.

  • Chronic angle-closure glaucoma: a variant of angle-closure glaucoma that happens more slowly and might not have any symptoms.

  • Congenital glaucoma: typically used to refer to glaucoma that is present at birth.

  • Neonatal glaucoma: as far as I know, another term for congenital glaucoma, but it is possible that some professionals make a distinction.

  • Juvenile glaucoma: although this term is sometimes used interchangeably with congenital glaucoma, I often see glaucoma specialists reserve this term for glaucoma that develops several years after birth or during the teenage years, which is how I prefer to use it.

  • Neovascular glaucoma: this results from extra blood vessels that cover the trabecular meshwork, a part of your eye where fluid drains out. It’s often a consequence of diabetes or high blood pressure.

  • Pigmentary glaucoma: pigment from your iris (the colored part of your eye surrounding the pupil) is scraped off (due to anatomically close structures in some peoples' eyes); the pigment interferes with fluid draining out of your eye.

  • Exfoliation glaucoma: also called pseudoexfoliation glaucoma, is another type of glaucoma where material is deposited into the eye's drainage systems and blocks fluid from draining normally.

  • Inflammatory glaucoma: glaucoma connected with inflammation (see next item).

  • Uveitic glaucoma: a type of Inflammatory glaucoma; can happen in people who have uveitis, a condition that causes swelling and inflammation in the eye.

  • Traumatic glaucoma: eye injuries can also cause glaucoma.

  • Postsurgical glaucoma: a type of traumatic glaucoma.

  • Phacogenic glaucoma: a type of Angle-closure glaucoma due to a mature cataract.

  • Hemolytic glaucoma: also known as erythroclastic glaucoma.

  • Drug-induced glaucoma or steroid induced glaucoma

  • And others: probably lots of others

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Thanks, and wow.

I have steroid-induced glaucoma. I had no clue it was considered a separate condition, but now I can understand why: it didn't start as pressure build-up from a problem with the "plumbing" in my eye; the pressure build-up arose as a reaction to the steroid. Correct?

One other thing, for clarification: my story illustrates a type of secondary glaucoma, yes? i.e., caused by something else (for me, steroids). Primary glaucoma is pressure build-up that arises on its own, yes?

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Oh, and now that I know mine is secondary, how do I know if it's open or closed angle?

Maybe we should create a summary table someday of all the types and their traits. Most people might not care, but some of us will be interested in looking at patterns to understand similarities.

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Please ask a new question: "How do I know if I have open or closed angle glaucoma?" Thank you.

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