72 | EYEWORLD | SEPTEMBER 2022
by Nathan Radcliffe, MD
Glaucoma Editor
G
UCOMA
the patient about his or her life and what mat-
ters most to them. While a mere mortal such as
myself requires a bit more help from technology
than that, his point is well made.
In this issue of EyeWorld we are taking a
step back to focus on some of glaucoma's funda-
mentals. Starting at the point where light first
interacts with the eye of the glaucoma patient,
we cover the impact of glaucoma on the tear
film and ocular surface of the eye. We detail
some of the mechanisms of intraocular pressure
spikes or elevations and take a comprehensive
look at the management of glaucoma surger-
ies, including trabeculectomy. We hope that
this dive into fundamental topics in glaucoma
diagnosis and management will help provide us
all with much needed basic skills to manage this
challenging disease.
A
s a self-described
early adopter
and technophile,
I have found that
the field of oph-
thalmology certainly offers
a lot of dazzling inventions,
gadgets, and novel solutions
to diagnose and treat eye conditions. In the field
of glaucoma, the past 5–10 years have fea-
tured microstents, micro-instruments, artificial
intelligence, and a slew of other applications of
leading edge (and occasionally bleeding edge)
technology.
That said, a very wise glaucoma guru
(George Spaeth, MD) once told me that all he
really needs to assess glaucoma is his finger or
thumb (to check the pressure and assess the
field of vision), a direct ophthalmoscope (to in-
spect the nerve), and a few moments to talk to
Glaucoma's fundamentals
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