Understanding Glaucoma
Glaucoma is often referred to as the “silent thief of sight” as in its early stages it can be symptomless.
What is Glaucoma?
Glaucoma is often referred to as the “silent thief of sight” as in its early stages it can be symptomless.
Glaucoma affects the optic nerve at the back of the eye which is used to carry the visual signals through to the brain. Damage to these nerves gradually causes loss of peripheral vision. Because Glaucoma starts in your side vision it can often go unnoticed in its early stages. A regular eye examination will pick up changes inside your eyes hopefully before vision is lost.
Risk Factors of Glaucoma
Risk factors for glaucoma include increasing age, family history of glaucoma, high blood pressure, migraines, myopia / short-sightedness, and use of steroid medications. With more advanced technology this is becoming easier for us to diagnose and monitor.
Treatment and How We Can Help
[A fantastic piece of technology we are thrilled to be able to offer to you as part of our continued service, is the Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) scan.
If our optometrists think you may be at risk of either having or developing certain eye diseases such as glaucoma, macular degeneration, or diabetic eye disease, they’ll recommend you have an OCT scan. It only takes five to 10 minutes, but is integral in helping diagnose the aforementioned eye diseases.
As the OCT scan is non-invasive and scans your eye without touching it, you’ll be in and out quicker than you can say “life is short, buy the glasses”.]
One of our optometrists, Martina Fellmann, is accredited to treat glaucoma using medicated eye drops where needed. Being able to treat glaucoma directly at Canon Street Optometrists saves you time and keeps all your eye care in one place. All of our optometrists will continue to monitor for signs of glaucoma so if you have any questions or concerns about this, ask your friendly optometrist.
See more on our page about glaucoma examinations and treatment.
