What acually causes Glaucoma? i know its from high pressure in your eyes but what causes that exactly?

first of all im only 25 yrs old. a few days ago i went to the eye doctor for a check up and to get new glasses. during the visit the doc noticed i have a high pressure rate of 27. he says that im a glaucoma suspect and i have to go get a field test this week to find out for sure. im a little freaked out. and no one in my family has had this. im just wondering if anyone knows if this is caused by something in particular. if someone can shed some light on this for me id really appreciate it. i asked the doc but he said we would wait till i have the test and then he would discuss it more. anyone???

Ok, but you won't like the answer.

First of all, I am 42 and have been diagnosed with this for 14 years.

The doctor's don't know exactly WHAT glaucoma is or if in fact the damage is caused by the high pressures or what. Different doctors also disagree about calling high pressures glaucoma, or if it is just called introccular hypertension. Some people say its not glaucoma unless there is actual damage to the optic nerve. The pressure typically builds up because the fluid in your eye isn't draining properly.
The doctors don't really know if the pressure CAUSES the damage, but everyone will agree that pressures of 27in your case are wwaaaay too high. Normal pressure is about 16-17

A field test is nothing to be afraid of. You just look into a big machine and press a button when you see a light flash. Thats it. This machine maps your eye to see if there are spots around the edges of your eyesight where you are losing sight, since glaucoma destoys vision from the peripheral inwards.

So there are five basic things that the opthamologist will do.

I Use a machine with the blue light to measure you pressures
2. have you take these field tests
3. do an exam where he dialates you eyes and then he uses a very bright light to examine the optic nerve manually
4. with pressures of 27, he is going to put you on medication for sure, eye drops that you will need to take every day for the rest of your life basically.
5. you will need to go in for followup visits about every 3-6 months.

eye drop medications that are pretty good in terms of no side effects are xalatan, and lumigan.

ps, if your pressures are consistently being measured at 27 and he is NOT putting you on medication, something is wrong. Try to get a second opinion. After 14 years, I am hapy to say that I have virtually NO actual damage to my optic nerve. My case was even more sensational because my pressures were way up around 40 when i got diagnosed and the doctors never really have been able to explain why I was not blind or nearly blind when they originally discovered this. They say that 99% of cases as bad as mine, the person is blind for sure.

Make sure you take the medication. Its not something to screw around with.

i have the same thing but the guy told me not to worry about it

To put it in the simplest definition, it is a disease in your eye that can damage the optic nerve when the fluid (that keeps your eye healthy, white, and thick) gets stuck when it is draining and clogs up and causes pressure, which could cause blindness to your eyes.

Doctors don鈥檛 know why it happens in some people, so there is no real cure. The doctors do know that it takes place in the canal in the eye and they can do surgery to fix it and you can control the pressure with drugs.

try this link, i hope you are not the one in two hundred.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glaucoma

Aqueous humor continuously circulates from behind the iris into the anterior chamber. It exits the eye where the iris and the cornea meet. The fluid filters through the trabecular meshwork before passing into an open channel called Schlemm's canal.
In open angle glaucoma, blockage of the trabecular meshwork slows drainage of the aqueous humor, which increases intraocular pressure.
In angle closure glaucoma, the angle formed by the cornea and the iris narrows, preventing the aqueous humor from draining normally out of the eye. This can lead to a rapid increase in intraocular pressure.
Please see the web pages for more details on Glaucoma.

check out a website about it.

Glaucoma is actually, a disease of the optic nerve- part of the eye that carries the images that we see to the brain. The optic nerve is made up of many nerve fibers, like an electrical cable containing numerous wires. When damage to the optic nerve fibers occurs, blind spots develop. These spots usually go undetected until the optic nerve is fairly damaged.
Causes:
Clear liquid called " aqueous humor" circulates inside the front portion of the eye. To maintain a healthy level of pressure within the eye, a small of this fluid is produced constantly while an equal amount flows out the eye through a microscopic drainage system.( This liquid is not part of the tears on the outer surface of the eye.
Because the eye is a closed structure, if the drainage area for the " aqueous humor "-called the drainage angle- is blocked, the excess fluid cannot flow out of the eye. Fluid pressure within the eye increases, pushing against the optic nerve and causing damage. Let your Doc do further testing so you will have a better answer. I hoped that this helped some and Good Luck !! Here's a web:
http://www.aao.org