January is National Glaucoma Awareness Month
Hi friends! Welcome back to the Merivale Vision Care blog, it’s so nice to meet with you again! Here at MVC we know that given our current circumstances in the world, health is top of mind for many people. We support and celebrate ocular health by highlighting that January is National Glaucoma Awareness Month, where we hope to share pertinent and potentially vision-saving info with our dear patients and wonderful readers.
Did you know that glaucoma is one of the leading causes of blindness in Canada? Glaucoma is an eye disease that leads to progressive degeneration of the optic nerve. The loss of nerve tissue can result, if not detected and treated early, irreversible vision loss and even blindness. In the world of ocular health, glaucoma is often referred to as the “silent thief of sight,” because in its most common form (open-angle glaucoma) it can develop without pain or warning signals. With untreated glaucoma, your peripheral vision will slowly decrease over time.
Glaucoma is most commonly associated with increased fluid pressure in the eye. However, damage can also happen when eye pressure is within normal ranges. When glaucoma is left untreated, permanent vision loss is more likely to occur. Luckily, there is good news! When we catch glaucoma early on, treatments such as medication, eye drops and even laser surgery can control and even prevent vision loss. So fret not, as there are some things you can do to protect your ocular health.
The first is to know your risk factors. The risk for developing glaucoma increases with age, if you have an existing family history of glaucoma, or have certain medical conditions such as diabetes and hypertension.
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The second and most important thing you can do is to be sure that you and your loved ones attend routine comprehensive eye exams. A routine eye exam is the only way to detect glaucoma. Our amazing Optometrists perform a special test called tonometry which measures the internal pressure of your eye. Not only that, our Optometrists can check your field of vision and examine your optic nerve very closely. Our Optometrists are able to look inside your eye to observe and protect your ocular health. At our clinics, we also have the latest technologies, OCT (optical coherence tomography) and digital retinal photography, in order to detect the early onset of glaucoma and to track changes over time.
Please email us or book online for your routine eye exam today! We are open, by appointment only, to help you protect your eyes.