Glaucoma is essentially a disease of the optic nerve. The optic nerve is the cable that connects your eye to your brain and allows you to see. An optic nerve that is affected by glaucoma will lose tissue and cause you to lose peripheral vision. If untreated it can lead to blindness.
Screenings
Get screened for glaucoma in every comprehensive eye exam. We will check your eye pressure and examine your optic nerve. High eye pressures can be a telltale sign of glaucoma, however; you can have low eye pressure and still have glaucoma. As a result, examination of the optic nerve is essential for proper evaluation.
Management
The good news is in the majority of instances, glaucoma progression is a slow process and we have advanced technology to track it. We do ultrasound-like scans to see if the nerve has damage and visual field testing to see how your vision is affected. If you have it, it is very manageable. When it comes to glaucoma treatment, the mainstay is lowering your eye pressure. We do this primarily with drops, although other procedures do exist. The best thing to do is get yearly eye examinations and get your optic nerve evaluated.
Prevention
Additionally, it has been said that moderate exercise (150 mins per week) with 2 days of resistance training can lower the risk of developing glaucoma by 40-50%. Also, eye pressure tends to be highest at night, so avoiding face down positions while sleeping can also help.
Lastly, if you take blood pressure medication, make sure to check with the doctor prescribing them. Taking them in them morning is better than at night. At night it will lower blood pressure but actually increase your eye pressure. When in doubt, give us a call or click here to schedule and we can check it out!