By Household Options | Contributor
Greater than 4.2 million People stay with glaucoma, a number one reason behind imaginative and prescient loss within the nation. Though there isn’t a treatment for glaucoma, early detection and remedy can cease this situation in its tracks.
“Glaucoma is a number one reason behind imaginative and prescient loss and blindness in the USA, nevertheless it’s estimated that half of individuals with glaucoma don’t know they’ve it,” mentioned Michael F. Chiang, M.D. “Glaucoma has no early signs, and the one technique to examine when you’ve got it’s to get a complete dilated eye examination. There’s no treatment for glaucoma, however beginning remedy as early as potential will help cease imaginative and prescient loss.”
Common eye exams are among the many greatest traces of protection as a result of signs might not seem till the illness has progressed considerably. Realizing extra about easy methods to spot the situation and what you are able to do about it could assist shield your imaginative and prescient in the long term.
Glaucoma is definitely a gaggle of eye ailments that harm the optic nerve behind the attention and trigger imaginative and prescient loss and blindness. The commonest kind in the USA is open-angle glaucoma. Different, much less frequent, sorts embody angle-closure glaucoma and congenital glaucoma.
Be taught extra about glaucoma from the specialists on the Nationwide Eye Institute.
Causes
For some folks, glaucoma is the results of one other medical situation, however that’s not all the time the case. Whereas specialists nonetheless aren’t certain precisely what causes open-angle glaucoma, it’s believed to be associated to the strain that builds within the eye when fluid doesn’t drain quick sufficient. Over time, the strain causes nerve harm, which then results in imaginative and prescient loss.
Danger Elements
Glaucoma is just not preventable and might have an effect on anybody. Nonetheless, some teams of persons are at larger danger, together with these over age 60 – significantly Hispanic or Latino people. African American people over age 40 are additionally at higher danger, as are folks with a household historical past of glaucoma.
Signs
Early on, most individuals don’t expertise any signs of glaucoma. Over time, chances are you’ll begin to discover disruptions to your imaginative and prescient, corresponding to blind spots or decreased peripheral imaginative and prescient (what you see from the perimeters of your eyes) in a single or each eyes. This loss could also be particularly prevalent closest to your nostril. Signs sometimes progress so slowly that folks get used to it and don’t understand their imaginative and prescient is altering, which is why so many individuals with glaucoma don’t know they’ve it.
Intense eye ache, nausea, purple eyes and blurry imaginative and prescient are all potential indicators of angle-closure glaucoma, and rapid emergency remedy is important.
Prognosis
The one technique to correctly diagnose glaucoma is thru a dilated eye examination, together with visible discipline testing to examine your facet imaginative and prescient. This routine take a look at is painless and entails trying straight forward whereas your physician checks how effectively you may see objects off to the facet or on the high or backside of your field of regard.
Therapy
With out remedy, glaucoma can finally result in blindness. Therapy gained’t undo any imaginative and prescient harm, however it may cease it from getting worse. Therapy might contain prescription eye drops to scale back eye strain. Different remedy choices embody a laser process or surgical procedure to assist fluid drain. Imaginative and prescient rehabilitation providers and gadgets might assist if imaginative and prescient loss impacts your on a regular basis actions.
Discover extra details about glaucoma and eye well being at nei.nih.gov/glaucoma.
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