WHY MILLIONS ARE GOING BLIND FROM GLAUCOMA- HOW TO SAVE YOUR EYES.

Glaucoma is a silent thief of sight. It’s best to catch it before it is too late.

Imagine being asked to pick one sense organ you can’t live without. Most of us would pick our eyes…and, why not? Our eyesight makes the experience of living more beautiful (we get to see the beauty of the world, and our loved ones) and makes us able to relate our environment more. Such a wonderful organ that can affect our quality of life must be protected at all cost.

But many of us don’t take glaucoma seriously.

What is glaucoma?

Did you know that glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness worldwide? (Cataracts takes first place). To make it even scarier, it does not show symptoms! If hypertension is the ‘silent killer’, glaucoma is the ‘silent thief of the eyes’. Interestingly, glaucoma is closely related to hypertension of the eyes.

Yes, there can be hypertension in the eyes. But instead of it being a case of ‘high blood pressure’, ocular hypertension results from ‘high fluid pressure’.

Your eyeballs have fluid inside of them. These fluids help to maintain the shape of the eyeballs, and they also provide nourishment for the cells inside the eyes. There are two types of fluid in the eye:

  • Aqueous humor
  • Vitreous humor

The aqueous humor is involved in eye hypertension aka raised intraocular pressure (IOP).

About Intraocular Pressure (IOP)

A certain amount of aqueous humor is normally secreted by a part of the eyes (ciliary body) to maintain eye health. It then drains through canals/channels out of the eyes. There must be a balance between the secretion and drainage of the fluid for IOP to be normal. If too much is secreted, or drainage is slowed down, there will be ocular hypertension.

When there is too much pressure within the eyeballs, the optic nerve which is located behind the eyes may get compressed and damaged, leading to a gradual loss of vision.

Apart from raised IOP, other issues within the eyes can damage the optic nerve and cause glaucoma. Therefore, a person can have normal pressure and yet have glaucoma (normal pressure glaucoma).  This is why your doctor will check both your eye pressure and the condition of your optic nerve during a comprehensive eye assessment for the disease.

How to tell if I have glaucoma (signs and symptoms)

As mentioned earlier, glaucoma will typically not present with any symptom.

However, some people may notice that they can’t see objects unless placed directly in front of them (inability to see from the side). This is called loss of peripheral vision or tunnel vision; and by the time people notice this, the disease has already progressed. Overtime, there is a complete loss of central vision as well.

Source: Sea View Optometric

The vision loss from glaucoma is irreversible but the progression of the disease can be halted if it is diagnosed early.

This has only one meaning: Screening is the only way to catch glaucoma on time!

Note that there is a special type of glaucoma that will present with symptoms like eye pain and redness, excessive tearing, hazy cornea, headaches, etc. This type is called acute angle closure glaucoma where the drainage canal of the aqueous humor is suddenly blocked and IOP dramatically spikes. Acute angle closure glaucoma is a medical emergency.

How often should my eyes be checked for glaucoma?

The Canadian Ophthalmological Society  recommends that people aged

  • 40-49 years should be screened at least once every 3 years
  • 50-59 years should be screened at least once every 2 years
  • 60 years and above should be screened at least once every year.

Younger people below 40 years should have a thorough screening at least once every 10 years.

These recommendations are not absolute because you may require more frequent screening if you have a high risk of developing glaucoma.

Who is at risk of glaucoma?

  • Every person aged 40 and above: The risk increases with age
  • People of African descent
  • Having a family member with glaucoma
  • Being diabetic
  • People who are short-sighted (myopia)
  • Those with previous eye injury
  • People with elevated intraocular pressure: Some people may have raised IOP yet their optic nerves would not be damaged. These people are ‘glaucoma suspects’ and many of them eventually develop full-blown glaucoma
  • Having hypertension
  • Certain children with genetic conditions such as Down’s syndrome, Reiter’s syndrome, Peters syndrome, etc. This condition causes developmental glaucoma

A Word From HealthFacts

Glaucoma is a silent cause of blindness, be vigilant and protect your eyes through regular screening.

Also Read: Medicated Glasses? Do You Need Them?

45 COMMENTS

  1. Esenyurtta hurda alanlardan biri olmanın sevincini paylaşmaktayız. Tonajlı hurda eşya ticaretlerinde yüksek fiyat fiyat teklifleri vermekteyiz. Esenyurt hurdacı firma olarak hizmet veriyoruz. Esenyurt ta hurdacıları arasındayız.

  2. I was excited to uncover this site. I need to to thank you for your time due to this fantastic read!!
    I definitely loved every little bit of it and i also have you book-marked to check out
    new stuff on your web site.

  3. Fantastic beat ! I would like to apprentice while you amend your website, how can i subscribe for a blog website?
    The account aided me a acceptable deal. I had been tiny bit acquainted of this your
    broadcast offered bright clear idea

  4. Your style is very unique compared to other people I’ve read
    stuff from. Thanks for posting when you’ve got the opportunity,
    Guess I will just book mark this page.

  5. With havin so much content do you ever run into any problems of plagorism or copyright violation? My site has a lot of completely unique content I’ve
    either written myself or outsourced but it looks like a lot of it is popping it
    up all over the internet without my authorization. Do you know
    any methods to help protect against content from
    being ripped off? I’d certainly appreciate it.

  6. Hey there! I’ve been reading your website for some time now and
    finally got the courage to go ahead and give you a shout out from Humble Tx!
    Just wanted to say keep up the excellent work!

  7. Attractive component to content. I simply stumbled upon your blog
    and in accession capital to assert that I get actually loved
    account your blog posts. Anyway I will be subscribing to your augment or even I success you get
    admission to constantly quickly.

  8. I’m impressed, I must say. Rarely do I come across a blog
    that’s both equally educative and interesting, and let me tell you, you have
    hit the nail on the head. The issue is something which too few
    people are speaking intelligently about. I am very happy that I
    stumbled across this during my hunt for something regarding this.

  9. OMG! This is amazing. Ireally appreciate it~ May I show my inside to a secret only I KNOW and if you want to seriously get to hear You really have to believe
    mme and have faith and I will show how to change your life Once again I want to show
    my appreciation and may all the blessing goes to you now!.

  10. I got this site from my buddy who shared with me on the topic of this web page and
    now this time I am browsing this web site and reading very
    informative articles or reviews here.

  11. Can I show my graceful appreciation and show you exactly
    how to do really good stuff and if you want to seriously get to hear Let me tell you a brief about how to get connected to girls easily and quick
    I am always here for yall you know that right?

  12. Can I show my graceful appreciation and show my hidden information on really good stuff and if you want to
    with no joke truthfully see Let me tell you a brief about how to learn SNS marketing I am always here for yall you know that right?

  13. Do you have a spam problem on this site; I also am a blogger, and I
    was wondering your situation; we have created some nice methods
    and we are looking to swap strategies with other folks, why not
    shoot me an email if interested.

  14. Have you ever considered about adding a little bit more than just your articles?
    I mean, what you say is important and all. But think of if you added some great visuals or video clips to give your posts
    more, “pop”! Your content is excellent but with images and videos, this website could undeniably be one of the best in its field.
    Awesome blog!

  15. Good blog you’ve got here.. It’s hard to find excellent writing like yours these days. I truly appreciate individuals like you! Take care!!

  16. Aw, this was a really good post. Taking a few minutes and actual effort to create a very good article… but what can I say… I procrastinate a lot and don’t seem to get anything done.

  17. Hi, Neat post. There’s a problem together with your site in internet explorer,
    could test this? IE still is the market chief and a good
    component of other folks will miss your great writing because of this problem.

  18. Its like you read my thoughts! You seem to understand so much about this, like you wrote the e book in it or something.
    I think that you just can do with some % to drive
    the message house a little bit, but other than that, this is excellent blog.
    A fantastic read. I’ll certainly be back.

  19. Amazing! This blog looks exactly like my old one! It’s on a entirely different subject but it has pretty much the same layout and design. Outstanding choice of colors!

  20. Hey! I could have sworn I’ve been to this blog before but after browsing through
    some of the post I realized it’s new to me. Anyways,
    I’m definitely delighted I found it and I’ll be bookmarking and checking back often!

LEAVE A REPLY