Glaucoma: Facts, Care, and Prevention

The American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) estimates that 2.2 million people across the United States suffer from primary open-angle glaucoma (this is the most common type of glaucoma).

Furthermore, they expect this will increase to 3.3 million people affected by 2020 since the U.S. population will continue to increase.

Glaucoma Care and Treatment

It's always best to seek treatment early on before glaucoma worsens. Many times patients have glaucoma but they don't notice it until they experience vision loss to some extent. At this point of vision loss, the optic nerve has already been irreversibly damaged (sometimes leading to permanent vision loss).

If a person does not seek treatment for glaucoma at any point, he or she can suffer from peripheral vision loss (also called “tunnel vision”), which can in turn lead to blindness.

We recommend seeking treatment and getting screened for glaucoma at your local optometry office.

Glaucoma Symptoms

Before glaucoma-related vision loss occurs, there are a few symptoms to be aware of:

• • nausea
• • vomiting
• • blurry vision
• • seeing halos around lights
• • significant eye pain

If you or a loved one suffers from these symptoms, we highly recommend visiting the nearest emergency room or scheduling your appointment with Dr. Gary Kirman or Dr. Stephen Baer at Kirman Eye. Doing so can help to prevent permanent vision loss.

Since some individuals may not notice initial symptoms (or they may not have symptoms at all), it is very important to get a routine eye exam. During your optical appointment, we can screen for glaucoma-related symptoms, along with other eye-related problems.

Tips for Preventing Glaucoma

There are several ways that you can help minimize your risk for glaucoma, including:

• • eating a healthy diet, including fruits and vegetables
• • eating a varied diet
• • not smoking
• • maintaining a healthy weight

At Kirman Eye, we use the Heidelberg Retina Tomograph (HRT) to detect and manage glaucoma. Our doctors also recommended the RHA scan (routine eye health screening) for patients over age 50.

3 Common Eye Problems

There are many types of problems you can experience with your eyesight as you get older. Here are just 3 of the many visual problems that we diagnose and successfully treat at Kirman Eye:

1. Myopia
2. Hyperopia
3. Presbyopia

What is Myopia?

When a person experiences difficulty focusing on objects at a distance. The way we most commonly treat nearsightedness is with the use of corrective lenses (i.e. contact lenses and eyeglasses). Our optometrists have many years of experience diagnosing and treating those suffering from myopia.

What is Hyperopia?

This eye condition is most commonly known as "farsighted." When patients have difficulty focusing their eyes on near objects, this is commonly diagnosed as hyperopia. If the condition worsens without seeking treatment, he or she may also have great difficulty focusing on objects at any distance.

What is Presbyopia?

As patients get older, some may experience difficulty focusing on objects near to them. This is usually a classic symptom when someone ages, just like gray hair and wrinkles. If you are between the ages of 40 and 50, and you start to experience any of the following symptoms, we recommend calling our optometry office (located near Hershey & Harrisburg) for an appointment: problems focusing on small print; problems focusing on small objects; eyestrain; and/or difficulty with eyesight in the dark (or dim lighting).

If you haven't visited your optometrist lately, we recommend scheduling an appointment very soon. You don't want to wait until it's too late!