5 surprising facts about glaucoma
Aging increases the risk of this common cause of blindness — but there are ways to protect your sight.
Glaucoma is one of the most common age-related eye diseases. Affecting about 3 million Americans, the condition is the second-leading cause of blindness worldwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.1 While there are several types of glaucoma, the most common kind in the U.S. is open-angle glaucoma.2
So, what is it? “Glaucoma is a disease where the optic nerve — the main nerve that connects the eyeball to the brain — thins over time,” says Amy Zhang, M.D, a glaucoma specialist at Kellogg Eye Center at the University of Michigan. The optic nerve is located in the back of the eye. It acts as a communication channel between the eyes and the brain. As the thinning of the nerve increases, certain areas of vision are lost.
Doctors check for the risk of glaucoma by testing eye pressure. Elevated eye pressure can contribute to the thinning that damages the optic nerve, according to the National Eye Institute.3 Having high eye pressure doesn’t automatically mean you have glaucoma, but it’s one sign there is an increased risk of developing the disease.
The problem is that glaucoma often flies under the radar until it’s too late. Here’s what everyone needs to know about the sight-stealing disease and what you can do to keep eyes healthy as you age.
1. There are no early signs of glaucoma
“Patients don’t have any symptoms until the disease has progressed,” says Meenakshi Chaku, M.D., a glaucoma specialist at Loyola Medicine in Chicago. Early on, there may be a loss of contrast sensitivity or diminished periphery (side) vision, but those changes are not obvious right away. It takes significant peripheral vision loss to notice that something is wrong, she says.
Patients start to notice problems when the disease advances and starts to affect normal activities, says Dr. Chaku. Some may say that they can’t see the golf ball in certain areas of their vision while golfing. Others report that they can’t see to the side but assume it’s a problem with their glasses. Some may suffer an accident or fall because they didn’t see something coming at them from the side.
2. Everyone is at risk for glaucoma, not just older adults
It’s true that glaucoma becomes more common with age. But there are other factors that make the disease more likely to develop, says Dr. Chaku. Those include:
- Having a first-degree relative with glaucoma, especially if they were diagnosed at a younger age
- Being older than 60, especially if you are Hispanic/Latino
- Being African American and over the age of 40
- Taking long-term prescription corticosteroids (topical or oral)
- Having suffered a traumatic eye injury
- Having extreme nearsightedness or farsightedness
3. Only a comprehensive exam can screen for glaucoma
All UnitedHealthcare Vision providers are required to provide a comprehensive eye examination. This will often include the dilation of the pupil. In some cases, the provider may use a wide-angle image of the retina that may not require pupil dilation. The comprehensive exam includes the screening for glaucoma.
Because the risk of eye diseases, including glaucoma, increases with age, doctors recommend getting a comprehensive dilated exam every 1 or 2 years after age 40.4
When your eyes are dilated, your vision will become blurry for a few hours, so be sure to plan the exam for a day or time when that won’t be a problem. The eye doctor will check your vision and the pressure in each eye and do a full exam. They will ask about family history and evaluate risk factors to determine whether additional testing is needed, adds Dr. Chaku.
4. Detecting glaucoma early can save your sight
“Glaucoma causes irreversible blindness. But if diagnosed early, we can prevent that damage from happening and prevent vision loss,” Dr. Zhang says. Unfortunately, if the optic nerve is already significantly damaged, it can’t be repaired, which is why getting screened is so important.
5. There have been many medical advances in glaucoma treatment
The goal of most glaucoma treatments is to lower the patient’s eye pressure, which can be done in several ways, such as with medicated eye drops and/or laser treatments. Selective laser trabeculoplasty uses a low-level laser to drain fluid out of the eye to lower its pressure. It has become a first-line treatment, according to the Glaucoma Research Foundation.5 Done in an outpatient setting, the procedure typically takes 5 to 10 minutes.
“There is a huge innovation right now in glaucoma treatment. We have so many options for patients that we didn’t have before,” Dr. Chaku says. For instance, glaucoma surgery used to be a significant procedure. But now there is minimally invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS). That’s a group of procedures that use smaller incisions with a better safety profile to help control the pressure in the eye. If you have cataracts, you can also undergo a MIGS procedure for glaucoma at the same time as cataract surgery, something that wasn’t previously possible.
“It’s an exciting time to be working with glaucoma patients,” Dr. Chaku says.
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