Complaints & connections · borters.ch
The optic nerve is quietly damaged long before anything is noticed — which is why screening is decisive here.
Also known as: glaucoma · elevated intraocular pressure
Open in the tool — with search and all the links →This compilation is for information and replaces neither medical diagnosis nor treatment. If you have symptoms, see a doctor.
Progressive damage to the optic nerve, often from raised eye pressure — sneaky because symptom-free for a long time, then the field of vision narrows from the outside in. Not curable but well controlled if caught early (lowering pressure). So have regular eye checks from about 40, especially with family history.
Pressure raised over years is one of the roads that end at the optic nerve. Because lost fibres do not grow back, every lowering of the pressure counts here — and the regular measurement of the visual field.
Head back, lower lid as a pocket, one drop is enough, then keep the eye closed for a minute and press the inner corner lightly. That raises the effect and lowers the side effects in the whole body.
Glaucoma causes no complaints until late — which is exactly what makes forgetting so easy and so consequential. Tying it firmly to brushing teeth or coffee helps more than any resolution.
First-degree relatives carry a several-fold higher risk. An examination from about forty, then every two years, is the simplest prevention there is here.
Very severe pain in eye and head, a hard eye, nausea, vomiting, coloured rings around lights, misty vision: that is angle closure. It needs help within hours — not the next day.
Eye pressure alone says too little: some damage happens even at normal values. Regular visual field testing and imaging of the optic nerve are the real measure of success.
Eye drops lower the pressure inside the eye — the optic nerve then stays as it is. Visual field already lost does not come back. That is exactly why every day without drops counts here, even when nothing is felt.
About two in a hundred people over forty have glaucoma, and roughly half of them do not know. The loss begins at the edges and the other eye compensates — it is often noticed only when much of the optic nerve is already gone.
The common form runs for years completely unnoticed. The brain fills in the failing places in the visual field and the other eye covers them — so the loss is only noticed when it is large.
Brushing door frames, missing something from the side while driving, judging steps less well, becoming unsure in the dark. These everyday signs come before any noticed loss of sharpness.
Violent pain in eye and head, a rock-hard eye, nausea and vomiting, coloured rings around lights, misty vision, a mid-wide fixed pupil. That is an emergency within hours.
Glaucoma in parents or siblings, marked short-sightedness, dark skin, age over forty, longer cortisone treatment, low blood pressure with cold hands. These are not complaints, but they set the interval of the checks.
No blood value makes this diagnosis. It comes from the pressure, the look of the optic nerve and the visual field. These values concern the blood supply of the nerve, which co-determines the course.
Belongs to the same thought: what spares the small vessels also spares the optic nerve. A blood pressure that drops too low at night belongs to this question as well.
These two pigments gather exactly at the place of sharpest vision and filter short-wave light there. Kale, spinach, chard, broccoli and egg yolk are the sources.
The retina holds particularly much zinc; it is needed to turn light into a signal. High doses over months lower copper, though — so the two are considered together.
The outer segments of the seeing cells consist largely of a long-chain omega-3 fatty acid, and the tear film needs it too.
The seeing pigment is built from vitamin A. A lack shows first as poor vision at dusk and as a dry surface of the eye.
Studied in normal-tension glaucoma: 120 mg a day over 4 weeks to 4 years, with small effects on the visual field in small studies. It does not act on eye pressure — and pressure is what gets treated.
As nicotinamide, 1.5–3 g a day over 12 weeks was tested in a small study and showed a slight improvement in retinal function. That is an early finding, not a treatment standard — and the eye drops stay untouched by it.
Effects on inflammation and triglycerides established; cardiovascular prevention is mixed. Watch quality and freshness.
Cortisone in any form can raise eye pressure — eye drops most, but nasal spray, ointment and tablets too. About a third of people react to it; anyone needing cortisone longer belongs checked by an eye doctor.
Eye pressure follows a daily rhythm and is highest at night and early in the morning — exactly when nobody measures. A normal value in the consultation can therefore mislead.
A litre of water in a short time measurably raises eye pressure for about 30 minutes. Drinking spread over the day is therefore better than large amounts at once — the total stays the same.
Above about 500 mg a day — five cups and more — studies link higher eye pressure, especially with a family history. One or two cups are not meant.
Endurance movement lowers eye pressure for some hours. Head-down yoga postures raise it markedly — in glaucoma they are usually left out.
Studied in normal-tension glaucoma, where circulation plays a role. Small studies suggest an effect on the visual field; it is not confirmed and does not replace the eye drops.
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