National Glaucoma Week 8th-13th of March, FREE Glaucoma Screening

March 9, 2010 - PRLog -- National Glaucoma Week 8th-13th of March
Free Glaucoma Screening at Athenry Opticians
What is Glaucoma!
Glaucoma is the world’s leading cause of preventable blindness and affects approximately 70 million people worldwide. Many people do not understand the consequences of glaucoma and, more importantly, that its impact can be significantly reduced.

Glaucoma is a disease which affects the ability of the eye to send pictures to the brain, interfering with a person’s vision. See picture below
This can be due to the optic nerve being affected, increased eye pressure damaging the nerve or both. This damage is permanent but if detected early, further damage can be minimised.
Glaucoma is often called the ‘thief of sight’ as the disease is painless, gradual and sufferers often find it difficult to notice. This is because the brain automatically ‘fills in’ the gaps in the visual picture that are caused by glaucoma.

High eye pressure often does not hurt. You usually can’t see or feel the pressure in your eye. Early on, glaucoma has almost no symptoms. People may have glaucoma and not know it. In fact, 40% of your optic nerve can be damaged before you notice vision loss.
The damage caused by glaucoma cannot be reversed so it is important to have regular, thorough eye exams. This is especially true for those at risk for the disease. Without treatment, glaucoma may eventually lead to blindness. Only your eye specialist can find and treat the high eye pressure that can lead to glaucoma.

There is no cure for glaucoma but treatments are available that can help lessen the deterioration of a patient’s sight. Usually these are in the form of eye drops which help lower pressure in the eye.

5 tips to Help Prevent Vision Loss and Successfully Manage Glaucoma

1.   Remember to have a complete eye examination
It is important to get a complete eye examination including an assessment of the optic nerve as in many cases by the time you notice vision loss glaucoma has been slowly and silently causing irreversible damage

2.   Know your eye pressure and monitor any changes
Damage to the optic nerve is often caused by pressure in the eye that is too high.
Eye pressure is measured routinely during an eye examination.

3.   Take your medication as instructed.
Glaucoma is a lifelong condition. In order to achieve the best treatment outcomes it is crucial to take your medication as directed by your eye health professional.

4.   Know the risk factors
Primary risk factors include being over 45, a family history of glaucoma, high intra ocular pressure (IOP), marked near sightedness, African, Asian or Hispanic heritage

5.   Visit your eye health professional today
If you think you are at risk of glaucoma, early diagnosis could help make sure you have the best chance of maintaining your vision long term.

What happens during the Eye examination?
Each part of the exam provides important information that will help your eye specialist choose the right treatment for you. Your eye specialist can do a variety of tests to detect if you have glaucoma — even before you have any symptoms.

Patient Interview
Before checking your eyes, your eye specialist may ask you about your health, medical conditions, and past eye problems. He or she may ask what medicines — for example tablets, eye drops, inhalers, or creams — you are currently using. It's important to provide a complete list of all of your medicines including ones you purchase without a prescription.

Visual Acuity Test: Detects changes in vision.
Visual acuity is your ability to see far away or up close for reading. For this test, you may be asked to read from an eye chart


Slit-lamp Exam: Evaluates the inside and the outside of the eye
A slit-lamp — a type of magnifying glass — helps your eye specialist evaluate the inside and outside of your eyes. During this exam, you will place your head on a chin rest so your eye specialist can see a magnified view of your eye. A thin light beam lights up the eye

Optic Nerve & Retinal Exam
Glaucoma damages the optic nerve, but the damage doesn’t hurt and is hard to detect. Your eye specialist must carefully look at the optic nerve at the back of the eye to detect injury. Eye drops are used to widen, or dilate, the pupil. This gives your eye specialist a better view of the optic nerve. Your eye specialist uses a special magnifying lens to examine your optic nerve for signs of damage and other eye problems. After the exam, your close-up vision may remain blurred for several hours.
Many other diseases besides glaucoma can cause loss of vision or damage to the optic nerve or the retina around it. Your eye specialist will use many techniques to examine almost every part of your retina. Most use a bright light.




Tonometry (Eye Pressure Measurement)
This test is important because eye pressure may affect the course of glaucoma more than anything else. Your eye specialist will place an anesthetic drop on the eye. It may sting briefly. Eye pressure can then be measured with a device known as a tonometer.
Several other methods of measuring eye pressure are sometimes used. One of these, an “air puff” tonometer, is less accurate, but anesthetic eye drops are not required. This method of measurement is also generally painless.



Visual Field Exam Discovers damage to vision
The term visual field (peripheral vision) refers to the entire area you can see while looking at a fixed point. The visual field is large when both eyes are working properly. With glaucoma, the visual field becomes damaged, with patches of effective vision occurring within it. During the visual field exam, you will be asked to look straight ahead and press a button when you see a flash of light. These flashes will appear at random and in different places. This helps your eye specialist draw a map of your vision. In visual field exams, one eye is focused on at a time.

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Progressive Modern Opticians/Optometrists. Contact Lens Practitioner based in Athenry, Galway
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