Pigmentary Glaucoma

For the past few years when I finished a high energy physical activity such as running, swimming or basketball I would come home and cool down and sometimes the pupil in my right eye would dilate until it was very large. It would be accompanied by a severe headache most often. As I started regularly playing basketball this spring the dilation started happening more often and was becoming a concern because I could not do much while my eye was acting up.
Elizabeth, "The Wise One" as I now call her, convinced me to go to the doctor and get examined. Our family practice doctor did not know what was causing the pupil dilation so he referred me to an opthalmologist (an eye specialist). I saw him and he determined that I have a rare case of glaucoma called Pigmentary Glaucoma. The diagram is included for the following explanation of what my condition is.

General glaucoma refers to high pressure in the eye. There is fluid in the eye to keep it inflated. The eye is always creating and circulating this fluid. So when the eye creates fluid faster than it can drain the fluid the pressure builds from the inside out and pressure builds causing what we know as glaucoma. This condition can be dangerous because the pressure inside the eye can cause damage to the optic nerve ultimately creating vision damage or loss. 

Pigmentary Glaucoma is a certain type of glaucoma that is present only in young near sighted males, which fits my description exactly. This type of glaucoma is caused by the lens bumping or colliding with the back side of the iris and chipping of pigment cells. The cells float around in the eye fluid until finally they try to go out the drainage system, and much like dirt or hair in a drain, it starts to clog and slow the drainage. Thus, the slow drainage causes a build in pressure. Pressure in the eye is measures in mmHg (millimeters of Mercury). The standard or normal atmospheric pressure is 760 mmHg at sea level. Eye pressure is measured as mmHg above standard. A normal pressure in the eye is 15 to 20 mmHg above standard. My right eye is double the normal pressure at almost 40 mmHg above the standard 760 mmHg. Luckily we became aware of the situation before any vision damage has occurred. Sometimes this type of glaucoma fixes itself over time, sometimes not.

There are several things to do to regulate the pressure in my eye. The most common is daily eye drops. There is also a laser surgery that can open the drainage a little bigger to allow for more drainage. For now, I am going to use eye drops to help regulate the pressure. There is a good chance that I will have this condition for the rest of my life. 

Yes, you are remembering correctly, it is my right eye and my right ear that have had problems. So, it seems that the right side of my head is aging much faster than normal. I wonder what is next...