I was wondering why vision loss occur peripherally first in glaucoma. Is there an anatomical/structural reason for why peripheral vision is affected earlier by high intra-ocular pressure?
What the reason for the pattern of vision loss in glaucoma? Why is start out peripherally?
- Thread starter nd76
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Funny, I just watched a B and B video on glaucoma and was about to put up a question here about glaucoma. Anyways, based on my school curriculum we learned that in glaucoma you get what's called a superior arcuate scotoma (which affects the superior peripheral vision) as seen in the bottom row of the image below. This corresponds to the segment of ganglionic axons of the optic nerve highlighted in my pink. From my understanding, these axons are preferentially damaged first by the elevated intraocular pressure. I'm assuming later on, the defect then affects other parts of the optic nerve such as the fibers coming from the macula leading to loss of central vision.
I asked an ophthalmologist why the fibers highlighted in pink are preferentially affected and her answer was that "we don't know yet." Haha
I asked an ophthalmologist why the fibers highlighted in pink are preferentially affected and her answer was that "we don't know yet." Haha
