Contact Admin. Background and study aims Glaucoma is a common eye condition that causes damage to the optic nerve the nerve which carries messages between the eye and the brain , affecting vision.
One of the main causes of glaucoma is increased pressure in the eye intraocular pressure , which can happen suddenly or gradually over time. Vision loss caused by glaucoma is irreversible, and so it is very important to discover it early so it can be treated.
One of the less common types of glaucoma is primary angle closure glaucoma PACG. The eyeball is filled with a liquid called the aqueous humour, which maintains the correct pressure and keeps the eye in the right shape.
This fluid constantly flows in an out of the eye through a complex drainage system. In PACG, this drainage system suddenly becomes blocked because the edge of the iris coloured part of the eye touches the cornea transparent layer at the front of the eye , causing the pressure inside the eye to increase rapidly.
This type of glaucoma comes on very suddenly and is usually very painful, and so it would be beneficial to be able to find out if someone is likely to develop it so they can be closely monitored. One way of doing this is to use advanced screening techniques, so that the space between the iris and cornea can be measured.
