What if you have Glaucoma?
Chicago, Illinois
Glaucoma, without treatment can lead to blindness. The most common form of glaucoma is open angle glaucoma. There is no cure for open angle glaucoma, but there are treatments that can prevent vision loss.
The way to prevent damage to the eye from glaucoma is with regular visits to your eye doctor. The reason for these visits is to ensure that the pressure in your eye is controlled and not too high. We call glaucoma a sneak thief of vision as there are no symptoms of the damage from glaucoma until the very end. Typically, vision is lost along the edges or periphery of your vision and not until the end is the central vision lost. The loss of vision in the far margins usually gets worse slowly, and because there are no symptoms of glaucoma regular visits, at least 2-3 every year, important to ensure that your glaucoma is not getting worse. This loss of peripheral vision is measured by careful testing of the field of vision. Also, the eye pressure will be measured. Elevated eye pressure causes damage to the nerve in the back of the eye, which is the telephone connection between the eye and the brain. Damage to this optic nerve results in loss of vision.
The objective of treatment for glaucoma is to reduce the pressure in the eye. Most commonly, drop medications are used. At every visit to your eye doctor, the pressure in the eye should be checked to find out if the medications are working adequately. Your doctor will also want to measure the thickness of your cornea. The cornea is the clear front surface of your eye. Thickness of the cornea affects the ability to accurately measure the pressure in the eye. By understanding the thickness of the cornea, your eye doctor can better determine the normal pressure for you and your eyes and best control your treatment.
A regular part of your eye exams should be a careful examination of your optic nerves. Those with glaucoma will have changes in the appearance and function of the nerve that connects the eye and the brain. Damage to the optic nerve by glaucoma leads to a gradual loss of peripheral vision. Automated visual field testing should also be performed on a regular basis. It measures the function of the optic nerve by mapping out any blind spots that have been caused by glaucoma. During this test, you push a button when you see a light in the periphery of your vision. If visual field testing suggests that the optic nerve has increased damage, then you may need additional treatment of encouragement to be more compliant so that the pressure in the eye is lowered more consistently.
Careful follow up is important to see to it that vision is not lost. Most importantly though, is the need for the patient to do their part which is to take the prescribed medications regularly and to keep scheduled appointments. Glaucoma untreated leads to blindness, but when treated, very rarely is significant vision lost.
Two Locations:
Doctors for Visual Freedom Laser Center
875 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 1550
Chicago, IL 60611 | Doctors for Visual Freedom Laser Center
2010 S Arlington Heights Rd, Suite 121
Arlington Heights, IL 60005 |
