"Kala Motia" or "Glaucoma" is a silent theif of sight. It is the third leading cause of blindness in India.
Glaucoma is an eye disease in which the pressure inside the eye ball, or the intra-ocular pressure exceeds the ability of the affected eye to tolerate it. This damages the optic nerve, which can result in total blindness. The optic nerve is like an electric cable containing millions of wires. Each wire or nerve fiber carries a message to the brain. These messages join together to provide vision. Glaucoma can damage the nerve fiber, causing non-seeing areas to develop. If the entire optic nerve is damaged, blindness results. The normal intra ocular pressure is 13-21mm Hg.
The outflow of aqueous is impaired because the pores of the trabecular meshwork, from where the fluid usually drains out of the eye are blocked.
This is the result of other eye conditions like injury to eyeball, inflammation of the iris, growth of new blood vessels over the angle after certain eye surgeries, as well as intraocular tumors, all of which increase the intraocular pressure.
The drainage angle being abnormal from birth causes this type of glaucoma.
The outflow of aqueous is impaired because of a crowding of the iris tissue at its outer edge, which affects internal circulation.
