Glaucoma – “The Sneaky Sight Thief”

Glaucoma – “The Sneaky Sight Thief”

Have you ever heard of Glaucoma? It effects the eyes. The eyes like our other extremities and other natural and automatic functions utilized on our bodies can become overlooked and taken for granted. We know it can be a terrifying thought to lose any of our abilities. Imagine transitioning from a life with clear vision to a life of diminishing sight and then into darkness. This is a reality for many adults. Have you ever given much thought to your eye health? When was your last visit to an ophthalmologist?

A disease know as Glaucoma affects about 3 million Americans aged 40 and over and is expected to increase by 90% to 5.5 million by 2050.  Glaucoma is one of the most common eye diseases and the leading cause of irreversible blindness.

What is Glaucoma?

Glaucoma (aka “sneaky thief of sight”) is the build up of pressure or fluid on the front part of the eye until it begins to damage the eyes optic nerve. This damaging of the optic nerve may not be felt and vision abnormalities may not present immediately. Which makes annual eye check ups so vital. It is called the ‘sneaky thief of sight’ because of the way it takes peoples eyesight with out any drastic and immediate event or occurrence. 

There are a few types of glaucoma: Primary open-angle, Angle-closure or closed-angle, and Normal tension glaucoma. They stem from a fluid/pressure not draining well causing damage to the nerve.

Primary open angle is the the most common and usually not detected until severe damage has set in. Primary open angle has no warning signs, it is not painful and so early discovery through an ophthalmologist visit is needed. In the early stages of noticeable symptoms you may experience blind spot(s) in the periphery. 

Angle closure is when the iris winds up blocking drainage of your eye’s fluid. This can cause an acute rise is pressure on your eye creating immediate blurry vision, severe eye pain, headache, nausea and vomit, rainbow or halo lights. It any of these are present you should seek medical help right away, this is considered an emergency and your sight may depend on it. 

Normal tension glaucoma is when there isn’t excessive pressure/fluid build up on the eye however, signs and symptoms of glaucoma are present. 

Who Gets Glaucoma?

The likelihood of getting glaucoma can be increased and decreased dependent on lifestyle and circumstances in your life. With that said everyone can get glaucoma. 

However, people with African, Hispanic, or Asian heritage are more likely to get it. Also, people over 40 years of age, your heredity, eye injury history, prolong used of steroidal medications, people that are far/near sighted, a thinning of the optic nerve, migraine history, and comorbidities affecting the body and blood circulation such as diabetes, and high blood pressure. Having any one or a collection of the above does not guarantee you will get something else. They are just indicators that increase the probability of your body declining into another health concern if it is not properly addressed.  

How to Prevent Glaucoma

The bottom line is that adding annual eye check ups to your overall care is important. There are steps you can take to help prevent developing glaucoma such as a proper diet and exercise to stymie diabetes and high blood pressure, being careful and wearing eye protection when needed. But there are others you can not help; such as your heredity, unknown cause of optic nerve thinning, migraines, and age or race. What you do have is the option to add ophthalmology visits to your annual routine. 

An ophthalmologist can properly guide you to good eye health. If you have some degeneration of your eyes they will be able to place you on a path to help slow or stop glaucoma’s destruction. 

With all things health related maintaining a healthy diet, regular exercise, positive social connections go a long way to a healthy mind, body, soul/spirit and emotional health. Along with that, don’t shy away from annual physical assessments with your medical professionals most things are able to caught early and in turn completely mitigated. 

Disclaimer: This article is intended as a friendly reminder with recommendations. It is not medical advice, direction or prescription of any sort. Please refer to professional services for any health-related questions, concerns and relief.