How to detect glaucoma early? These symptoms should not be ignored

Many times, glaucoma develops quietly in the early stages and is not easily detected. By the time symptoms become apparent, vision has often been irreversibly damaged. Therefore, understanding the early symptoms of glaucoma is crucial for early detection and treatment.

Fluctuating and blurred vision

1. Difficulty in reading and visual fatigue: In the early stages of glaucoma, many patients will find it difficult to read, the text will seem blurry, and their eyes will become easily tired. This is because a slight increase in intraocular pressure affects the eye's ability to focus , especially after long-term use of the eyes, this symptom will be more obvious.

2. Decreased vision in the morning: Some glaucoma patients will notice that their vision is significantly lower than usual when they wake up in the morning, and they cannot see things clearly and sharply. As time goes by, after a period of activity during the day, vision will improve. This is because the intraocular pressure of the human body may increase physiologically during sleep at night, and the eyes of glaucoma patients are more sensitive to changes in intraocular pressure. In the morning, the intraocular pressure is relatively high, which leads to decreased vision. If this kind of early morning vision fluctuation occurs frequently, it must be taken seriously.

Abnormal eye sensation

1. Mild eye swelling and headache: Early glaucoma patients often feel a slight swelling in the eyes. This swelling is different from ordinary eye fatigue. It may persist and worsen in the evening or after long-term use of the eyes. At the same time, it may be accompanied by headaches on the same side, mostly dull pain around the eye socket or near the temple. Some patients may mistake this headache for an ordinary migraine or headache caused by fatigue, and ignore the eye problem.

2. Iris phenomenon: Iris is one of the more characteristic symptoms of early glaucoma. When patients look at lights, especially street lights or indoor incandescent bulbs at night, they will find a rainbow-like halo around the lights, with the colors being red inside and purple outside. This is caused by increased intraocular pressure, which causes corneal edema and causes light to refract in the cornea.

The field of vision gradually narrows

1. Loss of peripheral vision: In the early stages of glaucoma, changes in vision are often subtle and difficult for patients to detect. It is common to see a gradual decrease in peripheral vision, which means that the range of vision is getting smaller and smaller. However, since central vision is still good, basic activities in daily life such as reading and watching TV may not be greatly affected, so this change in peripheral vision is easy to be ignored.

2. Nasal step: This is a special manifestation of early visual field damage in glaucoma. Through professional visual field examination, it can be found that a step-like defect area appears on the nasal side of the patient's visual field. Although it is difficult for the patient to directly feel this subtle visual field change, regular visual field examinations can help to detect this abnormality early and diagnose glaucoma in a timely manner.

Director Li Fuhua of Tianjin University Aier Eye Hospital said that although the early symptoms of glaucoma may not be obvious, as long as we remain vigilant and pay attention to subtle changes in our eyes, once the above suspicious symptoms are found, we can go to the hospital in time for intraocular pressure measurement, fundus examination, visual field examination and other related examinations, so as to detect glaucoma in the early stage, buy precious time for subsequent treatment and protect our eyesight.