Glaucoma

What is Glaucoma?
Glaucoma is an increase in pressure within the eye that causes severe and significant changes to the optic nerve and retina and thus is one of the leading causes of blindness.  There are many causes but they all lead to blocking of the normal outflow of the fluid within the eye.  Causes include genetic conditions, lens luxation, uveitis, and others.

How does my dog get Glaucoma?
The breeds that have a predilection to glaucoma can develop signs very quickly while those that develop glaucoma secondary to another condition may have be slower in reaching the condition. Lens luxations and uveitis have a number of causes including trauma, inflammation, cancer, immune-mediated, infectious, etc.

How do I know if my dog has Glaucoma?
Pain, pawing at the eye, tearing, tenderness about the head, and a cloudy or red eye are all commonly seen with early glaucoma. Subsequently, the eye may become cloudy and the eye enlarged to the point be being noticeable. It will require a veterinary visit to differentiate the causes of glaucoma and may even require the visit to a board certified ophthalmologist. Besides a thorough examination of your pet, examination of the eye and specific tests to measure pressure within the eye are performed. This is an emergency condition and should not be delayed or the risk of vision loss in the affected eye is greater.

What can I do about Glaucoma?
Treatment requires aggressive medical care and may also require surgery. Both oral medications and eye medications are used to try to open the drainage areas, decrease pressures, and decrease fluid production. Treatment is lifelong AND if one eye is affected there is a very high risk of the other eye being affected at some time and thus it should be monitored routinely. Surgical intervention may be needed using lasers or cyclocryosurgery. In non-visual, painful eyes, removing the eye is required.

Is there anything I can do to prevent my dog from getting Glaucoma?
Besides breed selection, prevention is based upon decreasing the secondary causes of glaucoma. Avoiding trauma or infectious diseases is a start to decrease the risk of secondary glaucoma.

Are there certain breeds that get Glaucoma more often?
Norwegian elkhounds, Siberian husky, malamute, akita, Samoyed, Bouvier des Flanders, basset hound, chow chow, Chinese shar-pei, Cocker spaniel, Springer spaniel, toy poodle, maltese, shih tzu, Boston terriers, cairn terriers, Manchester terriers, Scottish terriers, West Highland white terriers, Fox terriers, Norfolk terriers, and many, many, many others.