Glaucoma is an eye disease that results in damage to your vision due to damage to your optic nerve fibers. The nerve fibers are important as your sight is encoded and carried directly to the brain through them. Glaucoma occurs as the optic nerve dies; in most cases it is a very gradual change that is detectable through a careful examination of the eyes. Almost no one with glaucoma is aware of their disease until in the late stage of the disease.

• Is there a family history of glaucoma?

  Having other blood relatives with glaucoma increases your chances of developing the disease.

• What is the patient's race?

  Blacks and native americans have an increased risk of glaucoma.

• What are the eye pressures?

  The average pressure in the general population is 16mmHg. Having higher eye pressures increases your risk for glaucoma but glaucoma can affect people with any pressure.

  It is estimated that in the USA about one half of the people with glaucoma have not been diagnosed yet.

• How thick are the corneas?

  Evidence suggests that thinner corneas are more at risk when it comes to sustaining damage to the eyes from glaucoma.

  We use a Pachymeter to assess this.
  
• Are the optic nerves being damaged?

  The shape and thickness of the optic nerve head and nerve fiber layer tells us how much if any damage has occured.

  

  In this office we have used a confocal scanning laser known as the Heidelberg Retina Tomography (HRT II). This sophisticated instrument allows us to obtain a very accurate reading of your optic nerve head. Recently we have switched to the the High Definition Spectral Domain Cirrus OCT.

  

  If your last eye examination did not include having your pupils dilated with eye drops, your eye doctor may not have gotten a good view of your nerves. Retinal photography is also useful.

  

  This photo shows the optic nerve head in the eye of one of my glaucoma patients. Photography is a great asset when it comes to managing glaucoma. Changes to the eye can cause a loss of vision and eventual blindness in a very gradual manner.

• Is your side vision decreasing?

  Most of us think that we are able to judge the way that we see to the side. In reality we are not very good at this task.

  One way to see how sensitive the retina is is to take a computerized visual fields test to measure peripherial vision.

  Glaucoma cannot be cured in most instances, but there are medical and surgical treatments available that are meant to prevent the damage to the optic nerves. For many patients treating glaucoma can be as simple as taking the prescribed eye drop medications and returning to your eye doctor at the recommended appointments.

  • Need more information about any of the above: Contact:

    
    David Balfour, O.D.
  148 E. Hurst St. Bushnell, IL 61422(309) 772-3135
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