What you need to Know about Glaucoma

Glaucoma is a serious, vision-threatening eye disease that millions of Americans are affected by. This condition is a group of eye disorders that have very few symptoms in the beginning stages but eventually lead to damage to the optic nerve, causing vision loss or total blindness.

At first, this disease will affect peripheral vision, and because it advances at different rates in each eye, many people don’t notice the symptoms of glaucoma until vision loss has occurred.

Different Types of Glaucoma

There are two different types of glaucoma, as well as specific vision care habits you can adopt to manage the disease and help to preserve your vision. These types of glaucoma include:

Open-angle glaucoma- This is the most common type of glaucoma and can start earlier than the age of 40, progressing with age. With open-angle glaucoma, the production of the clear fluid that fills the anterior chamber of the eye, the space between the cornea and the iris, is imbalanced. In most cases, those affected by open-angle glaucoma do not begin to notice a change in their vision initially because the vision loss typically begins in the side or peripheral vision. Visual acuity or sharpness is not affected until later in the progression of the disease.
Closed-angle glaucoma- This type of glaucoma occurs when the pressure inside of the eye builds up because the fluid is not properly flowing out of your eye. Symptoms of this type of glaucoma include sudden onset nausea, vomiting, or pain related to the condition. As the condition progresses, you may notice signs that your vision is deteriorating and that you are losing sight at the edges of your field of vision.

Glaucoma Treatment and Management

Fortunately, there is treatment for glaucoma. At Dittman Eyecare, we recommended regular eye examinations to allow for early detection and early treatment of the disease to preserve your vision.

There is no cure currently available for glaucoma, but with early detection and treatment, glaucoma can be managed to preserve your vision.

Schedule your next eye examination today to detect and treat glaucoma and other vision issues early on.