January - National Glaucoma Awareness Month

This month’s topic of interest is Glaucoma. Maintaining good health depends on us seeing healthcare professionals regularly. One disease that can sneak upon us without obvious symptoms is glaucoma. Glaucoma is an eye condition that damages the optic nerve. This damage can lead to vision loss or blindness. The optic nerve sends visual information from our eyes to the brain and is vital for good vision. Damage to the optic nerve is often related to high pressure in the eye. But glaucoma can happen even with typical eye pressure.

Glaucoma can happen at any age but is more common among older adults. It is one of the leading causes of blindness for people over the age of sixty.

 There are various forms of glaucoma: 

• Open-angle glaucoma presents no symptoms in early stages; gradually patchy blind spots appear in your side vision; and in later stages, difficulty seeing things in central vision will occur.
• Acute angle-closure glaucoma presents bad headaches, severe eye pain, nausea or vomiting, blurred vision, halo, or colored rings are lights and eye redness.
• Normal-tension glaucoma presents no symptoms in early stages; gradually, blurred vision; and in later stages, loss of vision.
• Glaucoma in children presents a dull or cloudy eye 9in infants); increased blinking (infants); tears without crying (in infants); blurred vision; nearsightedness that gets worse; and headaches.
• Pigmentary glaucoma presents halos around lights; blurred vision with exercise; gradual loss of vision.

 It’s important to have regular eye exams that include measurement of the eye pressure. If glaucoma is found early, vision loss can be slowed or prevented. If you have glaucoma, you’ll need treatment or monitoring for the rest of your life.

 Source for the information is the Mayo clinic.  

About the author: Hosea Long coordinates the Saint John Chronic Illness Support Group and has been active in Saint John for over forty years. He’s a retired human resources executive. He served as associate vice chancellor/chief HR officer with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. He’s also a twenty-five-year-old cancer survivor, living with multiple myeloma, an uncurable disease.