What’s wide-angle glaucoma?

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Wide-angle glaucoma, also called open-angle glaucoma, is the most common form of the eye disease glaucoma. Glaucoma causes fluid in the inner eye to build up, increasing pressure within the eye and damaging the optic nerve. Wide-angle glaucoma occurs when the drainage channels within the eye gradually become blocked, allowing aqueous humor, the fluid inside the eye, to slowly build up. Acute or angle-closure glaucoma occurs when these channels become suddenly blocked, often due to injury or deformity of the structures of the inner eye. While narrow-angle glaucoma can cause vision loss within five days, wide-angle glaucoma usually causes vision loss slowly, over months or years.

Open angle glaucoma occurs most often in people over the age of 40. Heredity can play a role in the development of glaucoma, so those with a family history of the disease may be more likely to succumb to it. People of African American ancestry may be more likely to develop glaucoma, although those of Russian, Japanese, Inuit, and Irish ancestry may also be at a higher risk of glaucoma. Diabetes, use of corticosteroid medications, and a personal history of vision problems in general can increase a person’s risk of developing glaucoma.

There are two types of adult glaucoma, of which wide-angle glaucoma is only one. Acute or angle-closure glaucoma, the second most common type of glaucoma, is considered an urgent condition that requires immediate treatment. Angle-closure glaucoma can occur when the small opening between the eye’s iris and the cornea becomes blocked, cutting off the flow of aqueous humor out of the eye through that channel.

Angle-closure glaucoma can cause pain in the affected eye. The eyeball may feel firm but painful to the touch, and the area surrounding the eye may become inflamed. Nausea, vomiting, headache, blurred vision, or loss of vision may occur. Patients may also see colored halos around lights.

While narrow-angle glaucoma can cause permanent and total loss of vision within two to five days, wide-angle glaucoma generally causes more gradual vision damage. Vision loss typically begins with peripheral vision. As vision loss progresses, tunnel vision may occur, followed by eventual blindness. Blind spots can also appear in the field of vision, grow larger and eventually merge. While the vision loss associated with all forms of glaucoma is usually irreversible, treatment can slow the progression of the disease.

Surgery and medicated eye drops are usually used to treat both types of glaucoma. Laser surgery is often used to facilitate adequate drainage of the aqueous humor. To slow the progression of the disease, eye drops containing cholinergic drugs, carbonic anhydrase inhibitors, prostaglandins, alpha-adrenergic agonists and beta-blockers are prescribed. If glaucoma occurs due to an underlying condition, treating that condition can help resolve the glaucoma.

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