DO YOU HAVE ANY GLAUCOMA PREVENTION ADVICE FOR ME?

Glaucoma prevention measures focus largely on diagnosing the disease early in its course and following the treatment regimen prescribed by your ophthalmologist.

Many people ask me how to prevent glaucoma. In order to discuss this, it will be helpful to break it down into two, more manageable, issues.

What can you do to prevent glaucoma in the first place?
What can you do to prevent going blind from glaucoma once you are diagnosed with it?

GLAUCOMA PREVENTION

My purpose in creating this website is to help people to sort through glaucoma information that is beneficial and that which is of questionable use. There are many types of glaucoma, each each with its own particular characteristics. However, they all lead to the same outcome: irreversible damage to the optic nerve that manifests as degredation of the visual field.

The plain truth is that there are no simple and definitive glaucoma prevention measures that you can take to avoid being diagnosed with the disease. Glaucoma is not an infection, like the common cold. You can reduce your chances of catching a cold by washing your hands regularly and by avoiding rubbing or touching your eyes with your fingers. Glaucoma also is not like sunburn. You can prevent getting sunburned by either wearing sunblock to protect your skin or by not going outside at all.

Unfortunately, a simple prevention measure analogous to protecting yourself from sunburn or the common cold does not exist for glaucoma. One reason for this is that science does not yet know enough about what causes the various forms of glaucoma. As research tells us more, it may be possible to develop glaucoma prevention guidelines for people to follow to lower their risk. But we are not there yet!

However!

There are some simple healthy decisions that you can make, such as eating a healthy diet and getting sufficient exercise. These can help to maintain healthy blood vessels and prevent other conditions such as diabetes and high cholesterol that sometimes are associated with glaucoma. Moreover, there are countless other benefits to healthy eating and exercise, so you cannot go wrong by making this decision.

PREVENTING VISION LOSS

Many patients believe that a glaucoma diagnosis means that they are destined to lose their eyesight.

This is not true!

Medical science has provided me and other ophthalmologists with effective tools to manage your glaucoma so that we can prevent loss of vision. As with other chronic diseases, early detection is a sound glaucoma prevention strategy. The best thing that you can do to prevent glaucoma-related blindness is to be screened regularly for glaucoma by a total vision care professional and, if you are diagnosed with this disease, follow the treatment regimen prescribed by your ophthalmologist.

Glaucoma screening is simple and is conducted in the office of your ophthalmologist. It involves a diagnositic instrument called a tonometer that measures the pressure inside your eye. The technical term for this is intraocular pressure. Pressures at or above a predetermined level (21 mmHg) may be indicative that glaucoma processes are occurring.

How often should you be screened to prevent glaucoma? If you have not been diagnosed with glaucoma, but are a member of one or more of the major risk groups for the disease, you should be screened every 1-2 years. Others should be screened every 2-4 years.

If you have been diagnosed with glaucoma, then the frequency of intraocular pressure screening will depend on the severity of your disease and the degree to which it is under control. Generally speaking, glaucoma patients whose disease is well-controlled should have their intraocular pressure checked at least once per year.

It is true that glaucoma can lead to blindness if it is not controlled effectively. However, being diagnosed with this disease does not mean that blindness is in your future. As you will lean on Glaucoma and Eye Disease Information, there are many available treatments that can help to control this disease and prevent progressive vision loss.

A number of visitors have written to me asking for recommendations pertaining to eye-care products and books for obtaining more information. I have joined with Amazon.com to create a dependable resource for books and products. You can find these materials at the Eye-Care Store.

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