Send to the emergency room! If you have this eye disease, you must go to the hospital immediately

Glaucoma is a common blinding eye disease, which can be divided into many types. Most of them gradually erode vision, but there is a type that can be called a "robber" of vision, which can quickly "rob" vision and cause blindness within 24 hours. It is the terrible ophthalmic emergency - acute angle-closure glaucoma.

1. What is acute angle-closure glaucoma?

This is a type of glaucoma. For example, a person with a family history of glaucoma who is also farsighted has a relatively small eyeball and a crowded structure inside the eye. After a certain age, the lens becomes cloudy. The expansion of the cloudy lens causes the narrowing of the aqueous humor drainage channel in the eye, which is also called angle stenosis.

High-risk groups may suffer from acute attacks of glaucoma due to some triggers, such as sudden bad mood, sudden insomnia or shock, or lying down with their heads down while doing something. After an acute attack of glaucoma, the intraocular pressure will suddenly rise to several times our normal intraocular pressure. For example, the normal intraocular pressure is below 20, but during an acute attack it can reach 50 or even 60, causing swelling and pain in the eyeball, severe headache, and sudden blindness. If not treated urgently within 24 hours, the eye will be permanently blind.

2. What are the symptoms during an attack?

During an attack, intraocular pressure will rise sharply, causing a sudden decrease in our vision, accompanied by swelling and pain in the eyeball, headache on one side, nausea and vomiting. During some minor attacks, some patients may say that it is pain in the temple or soreness at the root of the nose.

Wu Zuohong, deputy chief physician, member of the Glaucoma Group of the Hubei Ophthalmological Society, and director of the Glaucoma Department of the Aier Eye Hospital Affiliated to Wuhan University (Aier Eye Hospital Group Hubei Headquarters), reminds: When these situations occur, you should go to the hospital immediately for treatment. Within a short period of time, the doctor will use medication, laser treatment or some other treatments to lower intraocular pressure. After the intraocular pressure drops, the blood supply in the eyeball will return to normal, which will play a certain protective role in vision.

3. Will I go blind if I don’t receive timely treatment?

The answer is yes, because acute angle-closure glaucoma causes a sharp rise in intraocular pressure due to the closure of the chamber angle. If the intraocular pressure rises to a level that exceeds the blood supply artery pressure of our eyes, then our eyes will not be supplied with blood for a long time, which will of course cause blindness. If it lasts too long and rescue and treatment are not timely, the blindness of the eyes may not be recovered.

Therefore, acute angle-closure glaucoma must be treated promptly, intraocular pressure must be lowered in time, and blood supply to the eyeball must be restored to ensure useful vision.