Talk:Pigment dispersion syndrome

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How is this diagnosed? Toby 12:06, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

Through acute-angle eye exams. When the aqueous humor is illuminated correctly, "Krukenberg's spindle" appears to the examiner, a pattern of accumulated pigment particles (named after the original discoverer) which (I believe) always appears in the eyes of afflicted people. While my eyes show what I believe to be evidence of pigmentary loss to the naked eye—random empty patches in the iris pigment—I don't think this is a necessary (or possibly even directly causal) indicator for the syndrome.

In any event, I feel lucky to have been examined at an optometry institute rather than, say, a 'storefront' as I believe the syndrome is rare and obscure enough that many years-out-of-school optometrists wouldn't catch it until glaucoma symptoms appear, despite the standardization of acute-angle examinations in the field of optometry.Gropo 20:59, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] PDS

This is not advice in any way. These are my opinions and observations. I am not a doctor and have no specific education in this field. Do your own research and do what you feel is best for yourself.

CHAT / EMAIL GROUP: If anybody else runs by this message who also has Pigmentary Dispersion Syndrome or Pigmentary Glaucoma, please email me shawn@photoshawn.com - thank you! I've been having difficulties finding a group of people that have been diagnosed as such. I would like to get a chat group going.

SOME DETAIL BEHIND PDS HOW IT HAPPENS / WHAT IS IT?: In simple words: PDS Is where pigment from your iris rubs off and blocks the normal cleansing drainage of liquid from your eye. Pressure builds up and places undesired stress on your optic nerve and can cause damage to the optic nerve. Over time, your field of vision will be less and less. It can cause a complete loss of sight. What causes this pigment to rub off is typically a concave iris that rubs on the hair-like fibres that hold the lens in place. You can be diagnosed in a few different ways. High eye pressure is one of the most common factors, but not the only one.

MY SYMPTOMS / HISTORY: I have somewhat diagnosed myself now... further that is. Exercise is one of the causes or triggers. (This is also noted by NY Glaucoma Institute). I used to have the feeling of high pressure in my eye, soreness, dizziness behind the eye, seeing halos around lights, feeling of nauseousness, etc. This happened within two hours of intense exercise, jarring quick movements (I play Squash). I've heard this can also happen from basketball, bicycling, etc. My eye pressure used to be around 15. Since playing squash, it has jumped to an average of 32. It is probably much much greater after the exercise. With drugs and careful care I have gotten that down to 18-22 - that is acceptable to me.

LAZER SURGERY: It was recommended that I try trabeculoplasty or iridotomy. In short, there is no "proven" reason for how or why this works (or doesn't work). It is only theory of sorts. It is recommended to do this only at last resort and at some times may cause more harm than good. The one can only be done twice in your lifetime - it's permanent and usually only effective 1-5 years and in many cases is much less or not effective at all. After much research, I feel that trabeculoplasty is something I would consider, but iridotomy is definitely something I would not consider.

DRUGS: I continued to search for drugs that would keep my eye pressure under control instead. I have found that for me, Cosopt and Xalatan work best. Cosopt has been the most effective of these two. I use Pilocarpine before exercise. This has worked amazingly well and I am able to keep my average eye pressure down in the high teens (where it sometimes was up in the low 30s!) Pilocarpine is an old drug, but very effective in my case. NY Eye Institute has made notation of a Pilocarpine insert for under the eye lid (that they say was very very effective according to the studies), but has informed me that this is no longer available by the manufacturer.