Cataracts & Glaucoma

Cataracts & Glaucoma

Glaucoma Glaucoma, often called the "sneak thief of sight," is a disease that strikes without any obvious symptoms. You usually don't even know it's there until serious vision loss has occurred. And unfortunately, there is no cure for glaucoma. Once you have lost vision, it can't be restored.   The good news is that glaucoma can be detected early before there is any loss of vision. Plus, there are convenient treatments that can lower intraocular pressure (IOP), one of the major risk factors for glaucoma.

The keys to managing disease that causes vision loss are early diagnosis, proper treatment and regular eye exams. Your eye doctor has ways to assess your risk for developing glaucoma and can prescribe treatments to help prevent or delay vision loss if you have glaucoma.

Why is glaucoma the main suspect?
Glaucoma is an eye disease that involves damage to the optic nerve, which sends visual signals to the brain. No one knows what causes this damage, but pressure buildup in the eye is proven to be one of the major risk factors associated with glaucoma. When the optic nerve gets damaged by high IOP, some signals from the eye aren't transmitted to the brain. This can result in visual field loss, and if not managed, could eventually lead to blindness.