Are you at risk for glaucoma? Tweet

North Shore Eye Care has multiple offices though out Long Island including Smithtown, Riverhead, Holbrook and Deer Park.  Our doctors are available at all locations to provide comprehensive eye care.  Glaucoma is a disease of the eye that usually affects middle aged and elderly patients.  It is often associated with elevated pressure in the eye.  The doctors at North Shore Eye Care screen all of their patients for glaucoma by doing thorough eye exams including eye pressure measurements and dilated exams.  Dilated exams are necessary to fully evaluate the health of the optic nerve.  The optic nerve connects the eye to the brain.  Glaucoma leads to damage of the optic nerve over time, which eventually leads to peripheral vision loss.  Peripheral vision loss may eventually progress to complete blindness.  Vision loss is often asymptomatic until it is very advanced, which is why regular, complete eye exams are so important.  Those patients at risk for glaucoma are asked to undergo more thorough testing including visual field testing and optic nerve analysis with OCT imaging.  All of the doctors are North Shore Eye Care are capable of providing excellent glaucoma care and evaluations.  Those patients who have more advanced glaucoma may need to be evaluated by our glaucoma specialist,Dr.Sonya Dhar.  Dr. Dhar specializes in the medical and surgical management ofglaucoma and cataracts.  Glaucoma is initially treated with eye drops and/or lasers to lower the pressure in the eye.  If the pressure does not decrease enough, some patients may require surgery such as a trabeculectomy or a glaucoma drainage tube. Blindness from glaucoma can often be prevented if it is caught early enough.  Many patients are suspicious for glaucoma but do not have glaucoma.  These patients are watched closely, and those that begin to show more signs of glaucoma are then started on treatment.   

Our doctors(Dr Martin, Dr Zweibel, Dr Dhar, Dr Mauro, Dr Choinksi) are available to do complete eye exams and treat all eye diseases including uveitis, glaucoma and cataracts, in all of our offices. We recommend that most of our patients get at least yearly eye exams. Eye exams are important because many systemic diseases can manifest in the eyes. Often times the eye exam is the key to diagnosing a patients overall disease process. Examples of such diseases include diabetes, hypertension, thyroid diseases, and certain types of autoimmune arthritis. Additionally, certain eye diseases are silent thiefs of sight, such as glaucoma. Vision loss from glaucoma is permanent but treating glaucoma can prevent further loss of vision and blindness. We screen all our patients for cataracts and glaucoma, by doing thorough eye exams on every patient. Those patients that are suspicious for having glaucoma are then asked to undergo more specific testing such as visual field tests. Glaucoma may be caused by increased pressure in the eyes and is usually treated by eye drops, lasers and surgery if needed. Our doctors, including our glaucoma specialist, are available to treat all forms of glaucoma.