Early Detection of Glaucoma Can Save your Sight

Also called the silent thief of sight, glaucoma is an eye disease that is caused by chronic insult to the optic nerve that transmits visual information from the eyes to the brain. This affects your peripheral vision extremely slowly, completely imperceptible to you. Left untreated, this condition will most likely eventually cause continual damage that will lead to total vision loss. The good news is that our doctors monitor for this condition during your yearly eye exam. If we find any early signs or risk factors for glaucoma then we will request more in depth testing to ensure our doctors can preventively protect your vision and eyes. With early treatment of glaucoma vision loss can be halted in its tracks.

An Eye Exam for Patients with Glaucoma

We have tailored an eye exam just for patients with Glaucoma. It starts out just like a typical eye exam with chart readings, a neuro screening, and a biomicroscopy exam. These preliminary tests check your overall visual system and neurological system. After these initial tests, we move on to the portion that is dedicated to Glaucoma. Here we check your threshold color vision, the filtration system of they, measure the optic nerve fiber amounts, perform an ultrasound of the eye and measure your peripheral vision to ensure there are no early signs or risk factor for Glaucoma.

Finally, we do imaging of both the anterior part of the eye and the retina. Our state-of-the-art digital imaging devices are able to work through your pupil, to look at all structures of your eye, including the retina, optic nerve, and blood vessels.
​​​​​​​
Through these tests, we can better determine if you are at risk for Glaucoma so that we can preventively protect your eyesight. If we find any early warning signs, our doctors can begin building a plan to stop the progression of the condition.

Factors for Glaucoma

Glaucoma can effect people of all ages, but is most prevalent in aging eyes. There are a number of other factors that contribute to a higher risk of developing this disease:
​​​​​​​

• Being over 40 years old

• Diabetes

• High eye pressure

• Decrease optic nerve fibers

• Family history of glaucoma

• Cardiovascular disease

• Thin corneal architecture

• Steroid use

• Eye trauma or injury

• High blood pressure