While I’m on break from the online world this month, I’ve scheduled a few posts to keep readers entertained and informed. Comments have been turned off to keep the spam levels down.
January has been designated National Glaucoma Awareness Month. Glaucoma is one of the leading preventable causes of blindness, according to the Glaucoma Foundation.
The basic mechanism of glaucoma is high intra-optic pressure. The eye is filled with a viscous fluid, which maintains the spherical volume and shape of the eye. The amount of fluid is regulated by drainage via the Canal of Schlemm. When drainage is inadequate, internal optic pressure increases, and eventually causes nerve cells in the optic nerve to die off. Vision is lost from the periphery into the central field of vision as the optic nerve slowly dies, causing a narrowed “tunnel vision.”
The main types of glaucoma are open-angle glaucoma, where the drainage canal meets the front of the eye at a normal angle, but drainage is inadequate; closed-angle, where the drainage area is narrowed where the eye and canal meet; normal-pressure glaucoma, when nerve death occurs even though eye pressures are well within the normal range; and congenital glaucoma, found in newborns and requiring immediate emergency surgery to save whatever optic nerve function remains.
There are 70 million people with glaucoma worldwide, 4 million of them in the US. 120,000 Americans are already blind due to the disease. High risk factors include extreme near-sightedness, old age (>60 years of age), immediate family members with the disease, diabetes, and having African American or Hispanic ethnic heritage.
Annual eye exams with eye pressure measurements are recommended for these risk groups and for everyone over the age of 40. Treatment initially consists of a daily regimen of one or more types of eye drops that reduce the internal pressure. As the disease progresses, various types of surgery, including drainage stents, are recommended. The Glaucoma Research Foundation provides more information and resources on its website.
Here is another link for people with an interest helping others improve their vision and eye health. The Lions Club International is a volunteer organization founded in Chicago in 1917 by local businessmen. Today the Lions Clubs spearhead a wide range of locally based initiatives to improve communities. They are best known for organizing and running programs that provide eye health care to the needy worldwide.
If you have an old pair of prescription eyeglasses that no longer fit your eyes, why not consider donating them to the Lions’ eyeglass donation program? It’s so easy to dramatically improve the vision and life of a needy person.
