What happens in chronic open angle glaucoma?
In chronic open angle glaucoma (just called glaucoma from now on) there is a partial blockage within the trabecular meshwork. This restricts the drainage of aqueous humour. The reason why the trabecular meshwork becomes blocked and does not drain well is not fully understood. The aqueous humour builds up if the drainage is faulty and this increases the pressure within your eye. The increased pressure in your eye can damage the optic nerve (the main nerve of sight) and the nerve fibres running towards it from the retina. The retina contains the ‘seeing’ cells at the back of the eye. The damaged parts of the nerve and retina lead to permanent patches of vision loss. In some cases this can eventually lead to total blindness. Glaucoma can affect both of your eyes. However, it can often progress more quickly in one eye than in the other.
