Eye
Globe
Glaucoma
Author: Nat Pernick, M.D.
Last author update: 1 February 2014
Last staff update: 18 May 2022
Copyright: 2004-2025, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.
PubMed Search: Glaucoma pathology
Table of Contents
Definition / general | Normal circulation of aqueous humor | Drawings | Microscopic (histologic) imagesCite this page: Pernick N. Glaucoma. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/eyeglaucomageneral.html. Accessed April 2nd, 2025.
Definition / general
- Diverse etiologies, causes widespread degeneration of ocular tissue
- Defined as optic neuropathy with distinct excavation of optic nerve head and incremental loss of visual field sensitivity
- Almost always due to increased intraocular pressure (due to impaired outflow of aqueous humor) which causes optic nerve damage and degenerative changes below
Normal circulation of aqueous humor
- Aqueous humor is produced by pars plicata of ciliary body, discharged into posterior chamber, flows between lens and iris, through pupil, into anterior chamber, then through trabecular meshwork (in deep layers of peripheral cornea just in front of angle of anterior chamber), into Schlemm canal, leaves eye via plexus of intrascleral and episcleral veins along limbus
Drawings
Images hosted on other servers:
Anterior chamber
Microscopic (histologic) images
AFIP images
Iris and ciliary body with open anterior chamber angle
