Aqueous humor is an important component of the eye’s optical system. It is a clear fluid that fills the anterior chamber (The space between the cornea and the iris). Both the cornea and the lens must remain clear to support light transmission, therefore, they do not have their own blood supply and that is when the Aqueous humor comes in play to provide nutrition, remove excretory products from metabolism, transport neurotransmitters, stabilize the ocular structure, contributes to the regulation of the homeostasis of these ocular tissues, and provide a colorless and transparent medium between the cornea and the lens.
The Ciliary Body
The ciliary body is the site of aqueous humor production, it is a circular structure just behind the iris composed
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• Pars Plicata: The anterior portion of the ciliary body, have a large surface area and responsible for ciliary processes.
• Pars Plana: The posterior portion of the ciliary body, flat, has a pigmented inner surface and continues to the choroid.
The ciliary body is composed of muscle, vessels and epithelium.
The Ciliary epithelium is a double layer of cells covering the surface of the ciliary body, and has two layers:
1- An inner, Non-pigmented ciliary epithelium: represents the continuation of the retina, comes in contact with aqueous humor in the posterior chamber, the tips or crests of the non-pigmented ciliary epithelia are believed to be the sites of the active secretion of aqueous humor.
2- An external, pigmented ciliary epithelium: comes in contact with the ciliary process stroma.
Ciliary stroma:
Ciliary stroma consists of bundles of loose connective tissue, it contains blood vessels, nerves and ciliary
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In most cases, the damaging pressure is greater than 21 mmHg, however, in some cases damage may occur in a lower pressure (known as normotensive glaucoma), Or on the opposite of that, some people may be able to tolerate higher-than-normal pressures without having any damage in the optic nerves.
Glaucoma is characterized into two categories:
- Open-angle chronic glaucoma is painless, develops slowly over time. It is treated with either glaucoma medication to lower the pressure, or with various pressure-reducing glaucoma surgeries.
- Closed-angle chronic glaucoma: sudden eye pain, redness, nausea, vomiting, and other symptoms resulting from a sudden arise in intraocular pressure, and is treated as a medical emergency.
The pressure of the eye is measured by gently touching the cornea with special instruments to see how hard it is to poke (the less pressure the easier to poke, the more pressure the stiffer). Current Treatments of glaucoma generally aim to lower the intraocular pressure, to do so we must either reduce aqueous humor production or enhance its outflow.
Having diabetes or having a family member with glaucoma may increase the risk factor of