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Glaucoma



What is glaucoma?

Glaucoma is an often painless eye disease that can cause blindness if left untreated. It has no cure and can occur in one or both eyes. Horizon Eye Care specialists provide screening and diagnosis, with treatments ranging from eye drops to surgery. If you are older than 40 and have a family history of the disease, you should have an eye exam every one or two years. Early diagnosis is crucial.

Glaucoma Center at Horizon Eye Care

Signs

Glaucoma is a slow-moving disease with few symptoms. There is often no pain, no infection, no discharge and no redness. It first affects peripheral vision, which can be easy to miss because it’s not in our direct line of sight. If left untreated, the field of vision becomes progressively smaller until blindness results.

What causes glaucoma?

Glaucoma is caused by an increased pressure in the eye, called intraocular pressure, which if left untreated can damage the optic nerve and lead to permanent blindness within a few years. The doctors at Horizon Eye Care are trained to screen patients and detect the early signs.

What are the types of glaucoma?

Open-angle glaucoma is the most common form. Sometimes called wide-angle glaucoma, this form occurs when the fluid in the eye passes too slowly through the trabecular meshwork causing an increase in intraocular pressure.

Angle-closure glaucoma, also called acute or chronic angle-closure or narrow-angle glaucoma. This form occurs when fluid in the front part of the eye cannot drain from the eye causing a sudden increase in pressure. When this occurs, symptoms can include eye redness, severe pain, blurred vision and nausea. This is a medical emergency and you should contact your eye care specialist immediately for treatment.

Your options

Treatments

Glaucoma is typically treated with eye drops which can help lower the pressure in your eye. There are several types of medicines available to treat the disease and our specialists can prescribe the medicine and dose that works best for your condition. If your Horizon Eye Care doctor finds damage to the optic nerve or any loss of peripheral vision, further vision loss can usually be stopped if you begin using the drops.

For our patients who struggle with getting the accurate amount of drops in their eyes, our online store features eye drop applicators that make this task much easier.

For forms that does not respond to the eye drops, Horizon’s fellowship-trained glaucoma surgeons offer the latest in surgical procedures.

DURYSTATM

DURYSTATMoffers patients an alternative treatment for Glaucoma. Until recently, treatment involved administering topical drops to alleviate pain and slow vision loss caused by the disease. DURYSTATM enables doctors to implant a device into the eye through which they can dispense medications to relieve discomfort and prevent vision loss. See this blog post for more information.

View Videos About Glaucoma And Surgical Treatment Options

Make an appointment

Schedule an exam at Horizon Eye Care to determine your best glaucoma treatment. Online, use Horizon Eye Care’s Patient Portal. Or call 704-365-0555 during regular business hours (Monday – Thursday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Friday 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.).

Doctors

Pujan Dave, MDJoseph H. Krug, Jr., MD
Vandana R. Minnal, MDRandall N. Stein, MD


Glaucoma

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