Glaucoma
Glaucoma is a silent eye disease. It is a condition in which your eye pressure gradually increases, physically damaging your optic nerve, leading to permanent vision loss. You typically won't feel glaucoma or notice the subtle vision loss until it is much too late. We check your eye pressure and look at your optic nerves during every yearly comprehensive exam. If we are ever suspicious that you may be at risk to develop this disease, we would schedule you for further testing. Tests include checking the pressure of the eye, screening for peripheral vision defects looking at how open your drainage angles are, checking your corneal thickness, and analyzing the appearance and health of the optic nerve. If you are diagnosed with glaucoma, we typically prescribe medications that lower the eye pressure. We would begin treatment and use sophisticated technology to monitor for change over time, the hallmark of glaucoma progression! Most forms of glaucoma are successfully treated with eye drops. Laser treatments and eye surgery are secondary treatments that offer alternative ways to treat more advanced glaucoma.