Glaucoma?

[Shae]

Hi,
Hope everyone's doing well with their studies.
So I've never did ophtha before and I find its corresponding section in neurology part of First Aid 2015 a bit hard. Does anyone know what causes optic disc atrophy in glaucoma and why does it cause peripheral vision loss?

Thanks

[roshan dinparast]

hi
i think when intraocular pressure rises(in glaucoma), the pressure damages supplying vessels to disc, so the empty area(cup) becomes larger,and cup to disc ratio increases.and when you have decreased supply to disc, the optic nerve will undergo apoptosis/atrophy.
im not sure but,maybe the center has more supplying vessels that dont become ischemic/hypoxic at first , but the peripheri are more prone to ischemic damage because of less supply(Im not sure ,really) contributing the typical visual field defect "tunnel vision".