Glaucoma

What is Glaucoma?
Glaucoma is a relatively common disease that causes blindness. It occurs in 2-3 million people in the USA and more than 66 million people worldwide. The frequency of this eye disease increases with age and most commonly occurs after ago 40.

The Glaucoma Service of the Casey Eye Institute provides a very active clinical and basic research program dedicated to the diagnosis, and treatment, and understanding of this common cause of blindness.


Appointments

For an appointment with Dr. John Morrison call (503) 494-3038.

For an appointment with Dr. Beth Edmunds call (503) 418-2266.


Faculty
Dr. John Morrison, and Dr. Beth Edmunds are available for consultation to Northwest ophthalmologists for evaluation and treatment of patients with difficult glaucomas. Evaluation services include state-of-the-art automated perimetry, a rapidly disappearing area still required by many patients. Computerized imaging of the optic nerve is also available with the Heidelberg Retina Tomograph for objective analysis of the optic disc. Both doctors are available for consultation on an ongoing basis.


Range of Service
The service provides a full range of adult and pediatric glaucoma care, including filtering surgery, goniotomy, valves and shunts, laser procedures and trans-sceral YAG cyclophotocoagulation. Dr. Morrison frequently serves as an investigator with major drug companies, performing FDA-approved studies of new drugs for glaucoma treatment.


Glaucoma Research
The Glaucoma research program of the Casey Eye Institute encompasses both the back and the front of the eye. This includes understanding how disorders of the trabecular meshwork can lead to increased eye pressure. Understanding the cellular mechanisms that control regulation of aqueous humor outflow are leading to understanding the mechanisms by which argon laser trabeculoplasty lowers IOP and developing medications that can create the same effect.

In the back of the eye, a unique rodent animal model of pressure-induced optic nerve damage is providing us with a better understanding of how increased eye pressure damages optic nerve fibers. This will lead to better methods of evaluating how well glaucoma drugs protect nerve fibers and to new, better agents specifically designed to protect the optic nerve. In addition, an active evaluation of the genetics of glaucoma using modern methods of molecular biology on samples from several large families with glaucoma is now underway. This will provide us with a better understanding of the causes of glaucoma and opportunities for developing new methods for detecting and treating this eye disease.

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