What is glaucoma? It's a damage of nerve tissue that sends signals to the brain, leading to loss of side vision, slowly reducing to tunnel vision and blindness.
Did you know that angle closure glaucoma and primary open angle glaucoma are the two most common ones for the asian pacific community?
It's hard to fix glaucoma. Once they are diagnosed, treatment would be long term use of eye drops, ND:YAG laser treatments at the front of the eye, or carve out a channel at the front of the eye to direct the fluid out to lower eye pressures. However, these methods can only prevent further loss, not to return the eye to normal vision.
The better solution is to prevent it.
I asked the audience, they mostly agreed that they should check their eyes when they were younger.
Angle closure glaucoma can affect people over the age of 30 due to a smaller eyeball.
Open angle glaucoma can affect people at any age, even with relatively low pressure. It can happen when the fluid drainage system at the front of the eyes are blocked, partially blocked, or when the nerve tissue are weaker, such as those with high myopia (over -6.00).
During an eye exam, aside from checking for your vision and eye coordination, an Optometrist looks at your front of the eye, eye pressure, and the structure of the nerve, to rule out risk of glaucoma. Check your eyes yearly with an Optometrist to prevent vision loss.
Dr. Yan L. Liang, BSc, OD
Markham Optometrist
www.wardenoptometry.ca
Contact Warden Optometry to book your appointment today.