How do you monitor the progression of glaucoma?

To monitor progression, doctors today primarily use visual fields and optical coherence tomography. In general, doctors are relying on OCT more than visual fields in early glaucoma, given that structural damage generally becomes evident earlier than the functional changes visual fields are designed to detect.

Can optic neuritis be misdiagnosed as glaucoma?

Conditions that can be mistaken for glaucoma include compressive or infiltrative lesions of the optic nerve, previous ischemic optic neuropathy (both arteritic and non-arteritic), congenital and hereditary optic neuropathies, post-traumatic optic neuropathy and inflammatory and demyelinating optic neuritis.

What instrument is used to track progression of changes to the optic nerve fiber layer?

Scanning laser polarimetry. The scanning laser polarimetry (SLP) uses polarized light to measure the relative phase retardance of the RNFL.

Does optic nerve damage mean glaucoma?

Glaucoma is the result of damage to the optic nerve. As this nerve gradually deteriorates, blind spots develop in your visual field. For reasons that doctors don’t fully understand, this nerve damage is usually related to increased pressure in the eye.

What is the OCT test for glaucoma?

Optical coherence topography (OCT) tests obtain a topographical map of the optic nerve, using non-invasive light waves to take cross-section pictures of the retina. An OCT test measures the thickness of the nerve fiber layer, which is the portion of the optic nerve most vulnerable to eye pressure elevation.

What is Pachymetry test?

Pachymetry. Pachymetry is a simple, painless test to measure the thickness of your cornea — the clear window at the front of the eye. A probe called a pachymeter is gently placed on the front of the eye (the cornea) to measure its thickness.

Does an enlarged optic nerve always mean glaucoma?

When a person is shown to have large optic nerve cups, it could be an indicator of damage unless it can be determined that the cup size is considered normal for that individual.

Do all glaucoma suspects get glaucoma?

Glaucoma suspects have risk factors for glaucoma, but no proven damage to the optic nerve (yet). Most suspects will never develop glaucoma.

How does an OCT scan detect glaucoma?

Diagnosing glaucoma Your optometrist will use information from an OCT scan alongside measurements of the pressure inside your eye, your visual fields, and an evaluation of the appearance of the back of the eye before concluding there are signs of any glaucoma, or any other eye disease.

Can glaucoma be misdiagnosed?

Although glaucoma is the main cause of disc cupping, 20\% of the patients can be misdiagnosed [10].