Do you have a family member with Glaucoma?
Glaucoma occurs twice as much among people who have a blood relative with the disease. Ask your family members if they have glaucoma, as it may not be a general topic of conversation. The only way to know for sure that you do not have this sight threatening disease is to have a comprehensive medical eye examination. So if you have a family member with this eye disease, you should consider glaucoma treatment at our ophthalmology clinic located in Sarasota.
Risk Factors
Glaucoma is an eye disease that slowly and painlessly steals away your sight. It does this by destroying the optic nerve. The optic nerve is the all-important connection between your eye and the brain. It carries visual data to be translated into the images you see. Damage to the optic nerve is permanent. The cause of this condition is unknown, but several factors increase the risk. These include being over age 60, being of African-American or Hispanic descent, having a family history of glaucoma, having certain medical conditions such as diabetes or heart disease, and being nearsighted. Anyone with one or more of these risk factors should get yearly eye exams.
A dilated eye exam is the only way that this eye disease can be diagnosed. If a glaucoma diagnosis is given, there are several kinds of treatment available to lower IOP and stop nerve damage. These include prescription eye drops, laser therapy, and surgery. A treatment plan must be followed for the rest of a patient’s life in order to keep the progression at bay. Some eye drop medications are expensive, may have side effects, and it’s easy to forget to take them on a daily basis. Therefore, in some patients, laser therapy or a surgical procedure is recommended instead. Although there is no cure for this disease, combining medical treatment with regularly scheduled eye exams can reduce the risk of vision loss. Schedule your comprehensive dilated eye exam today.
