I am writing this to make you all aware of a potentially serious health problem that can take you by surprise.

Six weeks ago today I was diagnosed with acute angle closure glaucoma. Glaucoma is defined as a buildup of pressure inside the eyeball. The aqueous humor, which is the replaceable liquid inside the eye, cannot drain properly thus causing the pressure increase. The drainage passages are located around the outside of the iris, the colored part of the eye.

I was feeling rather stressed one day and felt as if I had a sinus infection starting. I was pretty beat that night and went to bed early. The next morning I felt another headache coming on, slightly running nose and - worst of all - my vision was cloudy, as if the room was charged with light smoke. Particularly disturbing was the fact that all the lights had haloes around them.

I went to the eye care center to get checked out. By the time I was done, some three hours later, I had seen two specialists, had laser surgery to both eyes, with three kinds of eye drops and a follow-up appointment for the next morning.

The doctors explained that I had had an acute glaucoma attack, or angle closure glaucoma. This is a very sudden buildup of pressure inside the eyes because the drainage structures within the eye become blocked. The structures are kept closed as the pressure builds up and compresses the optic nerve, which becomes damaged in a short period of time. If left untreated, the result is permanent vision damage or loss in 48 hours. There is no explanation as to why it occurred to me; also, it is usually seen in one eye or the other but seldom both. There’s no family history.

The laser surgery is called laser iridotomy, and essentially blasts tiny holes in the top of the iris so that the pressure can be relieved. All things considered it is pretty painless. Treatment starts with this procedure, then relies on medications applied in eye drops to keep the pressure down. Throughout the process I could work and function normally as long as my eyes didn’t get too tired. There were no restrictions on any activities.

In a couple of weeks I will have a battery of vision tests to make sure that no damage has occurred. I don’t think there was; I think I lucked out, by catching it early enough. I will have to keep away from drugs such as antihistamines and Sudafed because they increase the internal eye pressure. But that’s about it.

I think everyone should know about this since it is an uncommon and certainly potentially life-changing condition. I’ve been told that this is regarded as a true medical emergency. If you have the symptoms, particularly the cloudy vision and/or nausea, get yourself to the nearest hospital without delay.

1/2/08 UPDATE: Saw the eye doctor today. Good news, my eyes have finally settled back to normal. He thinks that the primary cause of this episode was an enlargement of the lens (which is common as we age) together with some condition that closed the very small gap between the lens and the iris. So there's just a small change in prescription, which I needed anyways, and I'm good for another four months. At that visit I'll have my field of vision checked as a baseline for possible future complications.