What is Glaucoma?
Glaucoma is a group of conditions which causes irreversible vision loss by damaging the optic nerve. The optic nerve transfers information from your eye to your brain, and damage to the optic nerve is irreversible.
What are the symptoms?
At first there are no symptoms of glaucoma, but slowly peripheral vision is lost, and if left untreated, it can cause blindness. This is the reason glaucoma is referred to as the Silent Thief of Sight.
Do I have Glaucoma?
Anyone can be affected by glaucoma, but if you are over 60, Hispanic/Latino, African American or have a family history of glaucoma, your risk increases. Since glaucoma doesn’t initially have any symptoms, an annual comprehensive eye exam will check your intraocular pressure and examine your optic nerve to detect early signs of glaucoma.
If your doctor thinks your eyes look suspicious for glaucoma, further tests, such as an optic nerve scan and visual field, may be performed.
How do you treat glaucoma?
Vision loss from glaucoma cannot be recovered. The goal of glaucoma treatment is to prevent further vision loss. This can be done by lowering your intraocular pressure. The first line of treatment for glaucoma is prescription eye drops. If that does not control the pressure laser procedures or, in more severe cases, surgery may be needed.
If you haven’t had a comprehensive eye exam recently, contact Vista Eye Care at 520-625-5673 or email them at info@vistaeyecare.net.
