Glaucoma is sight’s worst enemy. Yet, it isn’t often discussed, leaving the general public with little to no accurate information about this scarily common eye condition. While most prevalent in older adults (70-80 years old), it can impact somebody’s life at any age, eradicating their sight if left untreated. Thus, Paul Olsovsky of Oregon notes that understanding its severity and seeking prompt treatment is key.

But the title doesn’t exaggerate — symptoms of glaucoma don’t typically arise until it’s already damaged the optic nerve and started impacting sight. Silently whisking away the sense that most people heavily rely on, it’s a life-changing condition with no available treatments that reverse its effects.

From Pre-Diagnosis to End-Stage: The Severity of Glaucoma

Since glaucoma symptoms don’t often appear, those who don’t attend regular eye examinations are more likely to never notice it until it’s too late. Affecting the peripheral vision initially, it develops slowly over several years until sight loss becomes more serious.

Practitioners who notice optic nerve damage or higher-than-normal eye pressure during a routine eye check often refer to this as pre-diagnosis of primary open-angle glaucoma, and will refer their patient to a specialist for diagnosis and treatment. At this mild stage, there won’t necessarily be any visual field abnormalities. And even if there are, they will be too slight to notice.

As the symptoms progress to moderate severity, the patient will experience visual field abnormalities in one hemifield (i.e., in one half of their visual field). Typically, people will realize there’s a problem and seek treatment.

Finally, there’s severe (otherwise known as advanced or end-stage) glaucoma, which impacts both hemifields.

The Earlier the Treatment, The Better

To reiterate — once glaucoma has affected vision, it cannot be reversed. Therefore, seeking prompt treatment (ideally before symptoms present themselves) is a must-do to stop the condition from completely taking the patient’s sight, leaving them blind.

Early diagnosis and treatment can prevent vision from progressively getting worse. However, there are various types of glaucoma (including the aforementioned primary open-angle), so the treatment method will depend on the type diagnosed by a specialist.

Generally speaking, it will be one of the following:

• Laser treatment to open blocked drainage tubes.
• Eyedrops to decrease eye pressure.
• Surgery to improve fluid drainage.

Following treatment, most patients require regular checkups to monitor the progression (if any) and ensure the treatment is working.

Routine Eye Exams Can Stop Sight’s Silent Thief in Its Tracks

Ultimately, people can significantly reduce the likelihood of undiagnosed glaucoma and stop it from causing blindness by attending regular eye examinations. It’s a common misconception among fully sighted people that they don’t need to see an optician if they can see as well as before. But that simply isn’t the case.

Individuals can only be certain they don’t have any underlying eye conditions by attending yearly exams. As glaucoma examples, many diseases won’t cause vision problems until they’re much more serious. So, it’s imperative to never underestimate the power of these checkups. After all, glaucoma-caused blindness cannot be undone, only prevented.