Early onset or junvenile glaucoma

[Madylane]

Is there a difference between early onset and juvenile glaucoma? Is one or both more aggressive than later glaucoma? Will I be able to maintain the sight I still have or is it unavoidable to lose more with this?

My details are: 34 yr old female. Differently sized optic nerves. Dr said the 'donut holes' are different sizes. Myopic. Slight peripheral vision loss in one eye (it's also more myopic than the other) pressures of 18 the other day. Family history of a grandmother with glaucoma at a later onset, tx with drops. Some light sensitivity but I've had that as long a I can remember. Some diffuse halo issues (I guess that's what it's called?) around brights lights like my phone or tv. I can usually make it go away by turning the brightness down an resting my eyes a bit. Had that for the last few years as well and it hasn't bothered me.

Any advice, answers or direction to resources for someone my age is super welcome and appreciated!!!

[Madylane]

Apparently I have no spindling or hyper pigmentation so I'm not suspected to have the pigment dispersion. I do have hazier vision after exercising. I was hoping the answer would be yes to it as it seems much less scary to me. Are there further tests for this form of glaucoma?

[Madylane]

Thank you for your reply!!  I will definitely ask about that!

[Houman Vosoghi, MD]

Juvenile open angle glaucoma would be a possibility but unlikely in the setting of normal eye pressures.  You should be checked carefully with gonioscopy for pigment dispersion glaucoma which is more common in young nearsighted patients.  Make sure you are seeing a glaucoma specialist for this as your case is a bit more complicated than average given your younger age, myopia, peripheral vision loss, and normal eye pressures.  I would definitely have a subspecialist look at your eyes.

HV

[Madylane]

The doc called mine early onset. Apparently I've had symptoms I haven't noticed for several years. Since the research papers and info I've been able to find often use juvenile interchangeably with early onset I'm wondering if there's a difference. And what that means in terms of prognosis.