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Screening pinpoints potential vision
problems, treatment
Glaucoma is a disease that develops over years that can leave victims feeling as if they are looking through a tube – permanent tunnel vision. Left unchecked, it can lead to blindness. Any damage to the vision, no matter how slight, is permanent. It is one the most unforgiving eye diseases.
“Glaucoma is a disease of the optic nerve,” said Air Force Col. Todd Hess, chief of the Department of Head and Neck surgery at LRMC. “The disease makes the optic nerve sensitive to pressure.”
Pressure is not the only culprit in glaucoma. Everyone’s eye has pressure. Without pressure, the eye would collapse, he said. And not everyone with increased pressure is at risk. What is high for one person may not be high for another. With a damaged optic nerve, however, pressure can disrupt the flow of visual information.
“Your eye works just like a camera,” said Colonel Hess. “You don’t see with your eyes; you see with your brain. Glaucoma doesn’t allow the visual information to get from the eye to the brain.”
The damage is cumulative, taking years to reveal itself. It begins, and the victim is none the wiser, because there is no accompanying pain or tell-tale signs until it is too late.
“First, the victim will lose part of the peripheral vision,” said Colonel Hess. “In advanced glaucoma, it is like looking through a roll of paper towels all of the time. We can stop the progression, but the vision loss is permanent.”
Hence the importance of routine pressure checks, to catch the disease in an early stage, said Colonel Hess.
According to information from the National Eye Institute Web site, people who are at high risk for developing the disease are: African Americans over 40; everyone over 60, especially Mexican Americans; and people with a family history of the disease.
In America, some three million people have glaucoma. Of these, as many as 120,000 are blind because of the disease.
The aforementioned people are at a higher risk, but glaucoma knows no age restrictions. Anyone can get the disease. Some people are born with it, said Colonel Hess.
“An infant or toddler who seems to be chronically sensitive to light or is always rubbing his eyes could have the disease,” said Hess. “We should definitely have a look at them. Also, if your family has a history of the disease, it is better to get tested as a child.”
Although there is no cure for glaucoma, there are ways to treat the pressure and stave off its progression.
According to the NEI, initial treatment begins with eye drops to relieve the pressure. Eye drops vary in strength, and patients will run the gamut of them before moving on to stronger treatments.
These include laser surgery to help fluid drain out of the eye; and regular surgery, which makes a new opening so that fluid can better escape the eye.
The best medicine, however, is to catch the disease early, said Colonel Hess.
For more information or if you would like to schedule a glaucoma screening exam, call the LRMC Optometry Clinic at 486-8288.
Glaucoma fast facts
Glaucoma affects about 2.2 million Americans 40 and older. Another two million may have the disease and don’t know it.
Although glaucoma tends to run in families, a hereditary basis has not been established.
