Glaucoma is a name for a group of progressive eye diseases, and when they are left untreated they will cause blindness. This year in March, the first World Glaucoma Day took place, in an effort to educate people about glaucoma and its dangers. You may have heard radio spots or seen television announcements about it.
Glaucoma is related to the eye’s internal pressure, which becomes too high. Our eyes are filled with fluid, and have a natural drainage system. The eyes continually produce new fluid to replace what drains out.
In a glaucomatous eye, the optic nerve is damaged. When too much builds up and exerts increased pressure outwards against the eye’s wall.
The Optic Nerve
The inside back surface of each eye is known as the retina, and it is filled with light-sensitive cells. Light enters the eyes carrying image information, and in a 20/20 eye it focuses clearly on the retina. This forms tiny upside-down images of what you are looking at. The retinal cells convert this to electrical energy. The large optic nerve exits from the back of each eye and carries this energy to the brain’s vision center at the back of the head.
When intraocular pressure is too high, damage is caused to the optic nerve, where it leaves the back of the eye. This is irreversible damage. Now the optic nerve cannot carry full information to the brain, and the brain cannot interpret it to give you a full picture of what’s in your line of sight.
A Silent Disease
Glaucoma gradually steals the peripheral vision. If it is left untreated, the field of vision becomes progressively smaller until blindness results. That means early diagnosis is crucial for saving your vision. There are no symptoms at first. We typically focus on what we want to see, and do not fully notice what’s in the peripheral vision. There is no pain, no infection, no discharge, no redness. Nor is there any cure.
Who is at Risk for Glaucoma?
Anyone could get glaucoma, but some groups are at greater risk than others:
People over 60 – six times more likely to get glaucoma, according to the Glaucoma Research Foundation
People with a family history of glaucoma – the most common form of glaucoma is hereditary
African-Americans – six to eight times more likely to get glaucoma, and on average get it about ten years earlier than other groups. Reasons for this are unknown
Anyone with an injury that damages the eye’s drainage system
There are other groups with increased chances of glaucoma, though not as dramatically so:
Diabetics
Those with thin corneas -- less than 0.5 mm
People with high blood pressure
People on high doses of steroid medications, such as those with severe asthma
Older Hispanics – especially those over 60
Asians – who tend to get angle closure glaucoma
Even if you are not in any of these increased-risk categories of people, it would be wise to have a glaucoma check at about the age of 40. Glaucoma is typically treated with eyedrops. If your eye doctor finds any damage to the optic nerve (called “cupping”), and/or any loss of peripheral vision, your accompanying vision loss can be stopped if you begin using the eyedrops. For glaucoma that does not respond to the eyedrops, Horizon's fellowship trained glaucoma surgeons off the latest in surgical procedures.
Please call or email our Charlotte, N.C. office if you would like to learn more about glaucoma, and have your eyes checked. We urge you not to delay this, for the sake of your own vision.
