Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Glaucoma Can Be Preventable With Eye Exams

Slowly and quietly it robs you of your eyesight a little at a time. It's glaucoma. And it is preventable.

According to a report in the April issue of the Mayo Clinnic Health Letter, over three million Americans are victims of glaucoma, with 80,000 of those being blind from it. The tragedy, the report states, is that regular eye exams and early treatment can prevent this. Once lost, the vision cannot be restored, but futher loss can be prevented.

Glaucoma is the result of excess fluid collecting within the inner eye, thus building up pressure. This pressure ultimately damages the optic nerve, with the peripheral vision being the first to go. With peripheral vision gone, the victim experiences tunnel vision. The disease guietly sabotages this remaining vision, with the final result being blindness.

To determine if you are at risk for this devastating disease, the following factors are to be considered: family history, diabetes, age, race and injuries or illnesses.

Although the chance of getting glaucoma increases with age, it is not a normal part of aging. Fourteen percent of people over 80 are afflicted with it. There is a 50 percent chance of getting it if a sibling has it, and being a diabetic increases the risk three fold.

The Mayo Clinic Health Letter warns that the disease is so silent and vision loss so gradual, that there is no such thing as self-diagnosis. The only way to know for certain whether or not you have glaucoma is to have an eye doctor check the pressure of the eye and examine the optic nerve.

Once glaucoma is diagnosed, treatment options include surgery, laser treatment and a variety of medications.

The medical report stresses the necessity of having regular checkups in order to catch the disease early, as irreversible damage can be caused.

It is highly recommended that tests be done every year or two beginning at age 65, if there is a family history of the disease, if you are of black or Asian ancestry, if you have diabetes or a chronic inflammatory disease, if you've had a past eye injury, or if you're taking steroids.