.

3 Types of Glaucoma

Glaucoma is categorized as primary or secondary, juvenile or adult and open angle or

closed angle (Kapetanakis et al., 2016). Glaucoma is considered as primary if there is no

recognized etiology or secondary if the damage has occurred to vision or if the disease

has noticeably occurred and the symptoms can be observed.

There are three main types of the disease which are as follows:

1.3.1 Primary Open Angle Glaucoma (POAG)

In open angle glaucoma, the angle is wide where the Iris meets the Cornea. It is also

called chronic glaucoma and also it is the most prevalent form of Glaucoma which is

responsible for almost 90% of all Glaucoma cases. The POAG is spread over 33 million

people (Kapetanakis et al., 2016). Drainage channels are blocked slowly and ultimately

cause high pressure inside the eye. POAG in which in gonioscopy inspection the

corneal angle of the iridio and frontal eye organization appear ordinary.

In all the populations investigated it is the supreme ordinary form analyzed and is

particularly prevalent in people with African lineage (~4.2%). Primary open angle

glaucoma is a deceptive sight threatening disease affecting a large ratio of the old age

population. Enormous research efforts have been done although the cause of Primary

open angle glaucoma remains probably unclear because of the heterogeneous and

intricate nature of the disease, on both molecular and clinical level (Janssen et al., 2013).

Primary open angle glaucoma is an optic neuropathy which damage the optic nerve

and ultimately change the characteristics of optic nerve head and corresponding visual

field problems (as opposed to secondary glaucomas) (Casson et al., 2012; Shields and
Spaeth, 2012). In adulthood, POAG normally begins (as opposed to congenital

Glaucoma).

POAG is characterized by the progressive retinal ganglion cell (RGC) death from a path

of biological point of view. POAG is an insidious disease and normally the gradual

visual loss is not noticed because it does not affect daily life for a long time after the

onset of glaucoma. The loss of the vision usually starts peripherally, initially shows

slight overlap between the eyes and is camouflaged by filling-in of the presumed image

by the brain. The disease progresses to irreversible blindness. The progression of the

disease slows down with decreasing intra ocular pressure which is the only affective

treatment proven so far (Bestawrous et al., 2014). The genetic line of attack indicates that

Glaucoma can be an innate, multifaceted, fully developing characteristic or less

commonly developed as a conventional Mendalic or monogenic disease that tends to

develop prematurely (Wiggs, 2007). The onset of JOAG is an alternative to the primary

open angle glaucoma. Before the age of 40 JOAG is diagnosed and known as autosomal

dominant inheritance. POAG have inconsistent pattern of inheritance (Kapetanakis et

al., 2016). Moreover, more than 90 variations were reported in several racial groups.

Mutations of such type report 3-5% of cases of primary open angle glaucoma and an

advanced percentage of cases of juvenile open angle glaucoma onset (about only 6-36%)

(Challa, 2008; Gemenetzi et al., 2012). Glaucoma with primary open angle (wide reach of

44.7 million cases) are more commonly noticed as compare to PACG is (15.7 million)

(Jansen et al., 2013).