Glaucoma Awareness: Detecting the Silent Thief of Sight

People mostly suffer from various eye diseases like cataracts, low vision, diabetic retinopathy, and so on. Out of the most intense ones, one of the age-related eye disorders is glaucoma which develops when the optic nerve of the eye becomes damaged. People must visit the eye clinic Calgary experts instantly when they find any kind of symptom related to it. 

Here in this blog, we will navigate you through this common eye disorder, its risk factors, symptoms, diagnosis as well and detection, and also how to manage and control it. But before that, we would first understand what Glaucoma is. 

What is Glaucoma? 

Glaucoma is an eye condition that has a damaging impact on the optic nerve, which is the vital link between the eyes and the brain. This damage occurs often due to the increased pressure in the eye that ultimately affects the peripheral vision and eventually leads to total blindness. The main threat of this eye disease is that it progresses silently and painlessly causing vision loss as well. 

Risk Factors Related to Glaucoma 

There are various risk factors that lead a person to Glaucoma. Let’s have a look at those factors: 

• Age: Glaucoma becomes more common with age, especially at the age of 60. 

• High Eye Pressure: The elevated intraocular pressure increases the risk of developing glaucoma. 

• Genetic: Glaucoma eye disease can also occur due to the family history like if someone in the family has that ailment. 

• Ethnicity: There are certain groups that are more prone to this particular eye disease and those are African, American, and Mexican. 

• Medical Conditions: Various health ailments like diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease can cause Glaucoma in persons. 

Common Symptoms of Glaucoma 

Here we would enlist before you some symptoms of Glaucoma that occur when you have caught this particular disease. Here are the most common symptoms: 

• Gradual loss of Peripheral vision 

• Blurred Vision 

• Halon around lights 

• Intense eye pain

• Headaches 

• Difficulty in adjusting to low light conditions 

It’s Diagnosis and Detection 

To avoid vision loss, glaucoma must be detected early. For early diagnosis, routine eye exams that include thorough glaucoma testing are crucial. During the examination, an eye care specialist will check your peripheral vision, test your eye pressure, inspect the optic nerve, and assess the angle of your eye where the iris meets the cornea.

It’s Treatment and Management 

The basic treatment for this eye disease includes: 

1. Eye drops - Eye drops help in combating this disease because they improve fluid drainage and reduce the production of fluid in the eye. 

2. Laser Treatment: With the help of laser treatment and procedures like laser trabeculoplasty, one can improve the drainage of fluid in the eye. 

3. Oral medications: In some cases, the oral medications do work to treat the Glaucoma eye ailment. 

4. Surgery: In advanced cases when you feel that this eye problem cannot be treated with medications and laser treatment, you can go for surgery in that case. 

Wrap-up 

As now from the above, we got to know that Glaucoma is actually the silent thief of sight that creeps up slowly and slowly causing serious damage to the eye. So, when you see the first signs, you must take serious action promptly at that time such as you can go for regular eye exams from eye Clinic Calgary to remain away from any kind of eye disease. To achieve the best possible eye health, you can get regular consultations from Eye Care Plus Calgary optometrists.