H40.1: Primary open-angle glaucoma

You have glaucoma. As a result your eye has been damaged.

There are two chambers in the front of the eye. Aqueous humor flows through these chambers to nourish certain parts of the eye. The intraocular pressure depends on the balance between the production and drainage of aqueous humor. With glaucoma, the intraocular pressure is usually greater than usual. Certain factors can favor glaucoma. These include, for example, a more advanced age, short-sightedness, and close relatives with glaucoma.

The aqueous humor needs to drain through pores, like a coffee filter. In your case the aqueous humor is unable to drain properly there because the pores are too small. The precise reason for this is not known.

The increase in intraocular pressure can damage the optic nerve. The optic nerve is located behind the retina. The retina is a layer inside the eye. It contains a lot of sensory cells that can perceive light. There are sensory cells for colors and sensory cells for light and dark. The sensory cells pass the information on to the nerve cells in the optic nerve.

Sight disorders are typical of glaucoma. The vision often deteriorates at the edge first. At that point, things are unclear or fuzzy. Colored rings might also be seen. If the condition is very advanced, blindness can sometimes follow.