Glaucoma is called “green cataract”, and the name of the disease itself is translated from Greek as “sea green”. The disease has been known since antiquity; its description can be found in the works of ancient philosophers. Healers of that time were able to identify people with glaucoma, but all help boiled down to the fact that the patient was covered with a tight bandage during the bright day. For the nobility, rooms were specially equipped in which twilight reigned constantly. Currently, special glaucoma glasses are used to protect the patient from bright light.
Who's at risk
Glaucoma is a serious incurable eye disease. With it, intraocular pressure constantly or periodically increases, this leads first to a narrowing of the angle of vision, and then to its complete loss.
The main risk group is people over 40 years of age, but there is also congenital glaucoma, and when it is diagnosed in children of any age. There is even congenital glaucoma - with it, children need to have surgery as soon as it is diagnosed, preferably in the first six months of life. If this is not done, irreversible blindness occurs before the age of 18 months.
Today, there are about 80 million people in the world who suffer from glaucoma; it affects everyone equally - women, men, people on all continents. It is the second leading cause of blindness in the world. The photo shows what the world looks like for people with glaucoma - on the left there is normal vision, on the right - weakened by the disease.
How does glaucoma begin?
It is impossible to clearly determine the time when glaucoma began - it occurs asymptomatically, only in the morning there is some fogginess and rainbow circles before the eyes. If you notice this in yourself, this is a reason to immediately contact an ophthalmologist and urgently begin treatment, which should be comprehensive. Any delay or indifference to oneself is fraught with irreversible consequences.
What's happening
In the eyeball, the process of fluid removal is disrupted, and it accumulates in the organ. Because of this, intraocular pressure increases. The retinal cells in the eye gradually begin to deteriorate, and the optic nerve atrophies. As a result, the signal from the eye stops reaching the brain. Peripheral vision begins to disappear, the viewing angle quickly decreases. In the absence of adequate treatment, irreversible blindness occurs.
What is glaucoma. Signs of the disease
One of the most serious and quite common eye diseases, for which the main symptom is an increase in eye pressure, is glaucoma. A gradual pathological process can lead to the death of the optic nerve, and if not treated in a timely manner, to blindness.
People can be exposed to this disease, regardless of age and gender, and infants are no exception. Each patient's medical history is individual. The document records the main signs of the disease and describes the features of its course.
To avoid dire consequences due to the development of glaucoma, it is very important to conduct a high-quality and timely diagnosis and take action. Only with this approach will it be possible to preserve vision in glaucoma.
Training eyepieces do not consist of glass, like conventional instruments, but of perforated plates. They are recommended for use in various ophthalmological diseases, including glaucoma.
They are aimed at relieving tension in the eye muscles. When wearing such glasses, the retina of the eyes catches light that breaks through uniform pinholes in the dark plastic coating, after which the patient begins to see better.
The training device is only a preventive method; it partially restores vision, removes some symptoms, but does not cure glaucoma.
Cautions to the use of training glasses include eye inflammation, malignant tumors in the brain, and heart disease.
Tinted glasses are a must-have accessory for glaucoma patients. But they do not serve as an accessory at all in this case. Glaucoma requires protection from direct sunlight, as ultraviolet rays damage the eyes.
But conventional models do not give the desired effect. Patients need to wear specialized models with green glasses.
This color calms the nervous system and helps reduce high intraocular pressure. Green lenses protect against negative effects on eye cells, improve vision focusing and slow down eye aging.
Also, green glaucoma glasses prevent the development of strabismus and chronic spasm of the eye muscles. They are deservedly considered a medical device.
Glaucoma is a disease that poses a serious threat to vision. The term "glaucoma" originally comes from the ancient Greek glaukos, meaning "gray-blue". Unfortunately, we do not know why or when this name first appeared.
The main symptom of this disease is increased intraocular pressure (IOP), which is detrimental to the optic nerve. The result may be permanent blindness. The first symptoms of glaucoma may be a feeling of fogginess or the appearance of rainbow-colored circles in the morning. However, more often the disease occurs without any symptoms at all.
In the early stages of the disease, when the first nerve cells and nerve fibers die, visual functions, as a rule, do not decrease. This makes glaucoma a rather dangerous and insidious disease: the patient begins to notice a narrowing of the visual fields only when the disease is already in an advanced stage.
Symptoms
At first they are completely invisible and practically do not attract attention to themselves. And yet, if you notice that you have
- It seems that the eye is bursting from the inside
- Your brow ridges hurt
- You periodically see everything as if in a slight haze
- When you look at light, rainbow circles appear around its source
- We stopped noticing what was happening on the sides
Contact your doctor immediately. In the early stages, it is possible to delay the development of the disease. And you shouldn’t take your doctor’s recommendations lightly.
Risk groups and symptoms
A person most often turns, oddly enough, to a neurologist. The severity of the pain syndrome, which spreads from the eye throughout the head and can imitate neurogenic or vascular migraine-like pain.
Also, sometimes patients can visit the dentist, since the painful sensations imitate pain in the upper jaw tooth. Visible changes in the eye should alert the physician in any situation and request consultation with an ophthalmologist.
Read on topic: Is it possible to do yoga with glaucoma?
Glasses for glaucoma
The diagnosis of glaucoma is a direct indication to begin protecting your eyes from bright light. You should give them maximum calm and try to avoid overexertion. So, it's time to put on glasses with dark lenses. Although, this is not entirely true. And regular sunglasses are not suitable. You will need special glaucoma glasses, which your ophthalmologist will certainly explain to you.
Green anti-glaucoma glasses
Special glasses with green lenses can help preserve your vision for as long as possible. These are not ordinary sunglasses, they only darken, but do not help at all with glaucoma. Glaucoma glasses have special filters that protect the eyes from overstrain and relieve stress on the nerves. After all, even a healthy person can look through green glasses conveniently and comfortably. However, you should not buy the first glasses with green lenses you come across - the shade itself, the glass, and the quality of the glasses are important here. Regular sunscreens that are sold on every corner can only harm you. And high-quality ones, made specifically for your eyes, will delay the development of the disease. In addition, getting used to them is almost instantaneous, less than half an hour. You will feel completely comfortable in them.
You may need prescription glasses. In specialized optical stores they are made to special order. You can also replace them from time to time as needed, when you need to ensure the most comfortable condition for yourself.
Properly selected glasses will provide you with protection from ultraviolet radiation, which has a detrimental effect on the eyes, especially with glaucoma.
Chameleon glasses are also strictly not recommended. The levels of light refraction in them differ too much, and this will strain already weakened vision beyond measure. Such glasses are also harmful for healthy eyes when there is no high blood pressure, and even more so for you.
Tips for wearing glaucoma glasses
- Use special vitamin complexes for the eyes
- To reduce intraocular pressure, instill specially designed eye drops.
- Reduce physical activity to a minimum - heavy lifting, prolonged bending, and any actions that involve lowering the head are contraindicated.
- When you work at a computer, watch TV, or use a smartphone, turn on an additional light source behind you. At the same time, sharply limit your work with them to half an hour of continuous stay in front of the screen. Then you should take a break so that your eyes do not become overstrained.
- Take the correct posture in front of the screen, the distance from your eyes to the monitor should be at least 35 cm, and your head should not be thrown back or dropped too low.
- Adjust your diet - it should contain many foods necessary for eye health.
- Quit smoking and alcohol, even the weakest.
- Maintain a sleep schedule, try not to stay awake at night, since the “rod” eye cells responsible for “night vision” are also responsible for lateral vision during the day, and they should not be overexerted.
- When sleeping at night, it is best to use high pillows to keep your head slightly elevated. This will drain fluid from the eyes, which will reduce intraocular pressure at night.
When to wear
Glaucoma will change your lifestyle somewhat. You will need to change some of your habits, but you will quickly get used to the new rules. You should avoid staying outside for long periods of time during frosts and ice baths. High temperatures are also contraindicated for you.
- Must be worn on a bright sunny day
- In winter, if the snow blinds the eyes and the light is too bright
- While driving a car. It is forbidden to drive at night.
- They cannot watch movies in 3D.
- When working on a computer or while watching TV.
- It is advisable to use them when working with gadgets, when the action of the screen is too straining on the eyes, and its blinking causes the eyeball to frequently change focus.
You should also limit your screen time and take 15-minute breaks every half hour.
Types of glasses for glaucoma
In addition to glasses with green lenses, which need to be worn almost constantly, there are others that are auxiliary. Sessions with them are prescribed by an ophthalmologist, they help stabilize the condition.
Training glasses
Another type of therapy is glasses with perforated inserts. They do not have glass at all, instead there are plastic inserts with a large number of holes with a radius of 1 mm. Light penetrates the retina through these holes, resulting in a clearer image. These glasses help a person get rid of quite unpleasant symptoms even with severe glaucoma. A session with such glasses lasts 5-10 minutes; they help correct vision for a while. They can also be used for other eye diseases.
In these glasses, only 20% of the surface area is open, the remaining 80% must be “thought out” by the person, the eye focuses on the object and the image becomes clearer.
Ophthalmologists also do NOT recommend working at a computer or watching TV in them - this will strain your eyes too much. But at the same time take breaks from wearing them.
Pankov's glasses
A small device designed for iridotherapy and reflexology. Its main task is the prevention and treatment of eye diseases, in particular glaucoma.
These glasses have LED emitters built into them and are controlled by microprocessor controllers.
During the session, the emitters cause the pupil to pulsate - to contract and unclench, this happens reflexively. In this way, spasms are relieved, blood circulation in the eyeball is improved, microcirculation in the retina is improved, and nutrition of other eye tissues is enhanced.
It is used in cases
- when the patient has confirmed glaucoma
- in children over 3 years of age and adolescents, for the prevention of eye diseases
- they are recommended to people to prevent glaucoma if their work involves a risk of getting it.
Use this device no more than 10-15 minutes once a day. It is used according to a certain scheme:
- 1 session - 1 minute
- Session 2 – 4 minutes
Then the time increases by 3 minutes every day and is brought to 15.
Such courses last 2 weeks. A total of 15 sessions should be performed. The next one can be done in a month. There is a break of three days between sessions.
During the session, it is advisable to turn on relaxing music.
It is forbidden to watch TV while wearing Pankov's glasses. Also, they cannot be used if there is any inflammation in the eye, or with oncology of the brain or eyes. Use with caution for hypertension.
Sidorenko glasses
This is one of the fairly effective developments for additional therapy in the treatment of glaucoma. Sessions with these glasses are prescribed in combination with drug treatment.
His treatment is based on vacuum pneumomassage with color therapy sessions. This combination has a good effect on the production of nucleic acids in the eye and in all its tissues. This device also increases the outflow of fluid from the eye. This reduces intraocular pressure, reducing internal swelling of the eyeball and tissues around it to almost normal values. Massage is carried out for 3-7 minutes daily, for 10 days. After this, the same color therapy sessions are carried out.
The use of this device improves gas exchange in the eye, saturates it with oxygen, and helps anti-glaucoma medications to be better absorbed and assimilated - approximately 4-6 times. It is thanks to this property that Sidorenko glasses are recommended for auxiliary treatment of glaucoma.
After several sessions, patients experienced a persistent improvement in their condition and a slowdown in the disease.
Sources used:
- Kurysheva, N. I. Glaucomatous optical neuropathy: monograph. / N.I. Kurysheva. - M.: MEDpress-inform, 2006.
- Mozaffari, Maneli Eye blood circulation and glaucomatous optic neuropathy / Maneli Mozaffari, Joseph Flammer. - M.: Eco-Vector, 2013.
- Nesterov, A.P. Primary glaucoma / A.P. Nesterov. - M.: Medicine, 1982.
- FSBI "National Medical Research Center GB named after. Helmholtz" of the Ministry of Health of Russia
Main contraindications
Despite the high effectiveness of therapy with optical products, the procedures have contraindications. Wearing such glasses is not recommended for the following conditions:
- active eye inflammation;
- exacerbation of conjunctivitis;
- oncological diseases;
- neuropsychiatric disorders;
- early childhood.
The appearance of glaucoma is typical for older people, but increasingly there is a tendency towards significant rejuvenation of the disease. Wearing green optical glasses has a beneficial effect on the patient's overall vision. Compliance with all doctor’s recommendations will reduce the risk of blindness several times.
children's age (up to 3 years); pregnancy; brain and eye cancer; mental illness; low blood pressure; pre-stroke condition, stroke and post-stroke condition; macular degeneration of the retina.
Glaucoma patients need to do eye exercises regularly to maintain visual acuity.
