What is Glaucoma?
Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness in the United States. It is one of the leading causes of blindness among African-Americans, and the leading cause of PREVENTABLE blindness in the United States. It's estimated that over 2 million Americans have glaucoma, and at least half of them are not aware they have the disease. Glaucoma is the name given to an eye disease in which the optic nerve at the back of the eye is slowly destroyed by damage due to an increased pressure inside the eye. Usually a result of blockage of the circulation of the fluid inside the eye called aqueous humor. It may also occur due to inadequate drainage. In some patients the damage may be caused by a weakness in the structure of the optic nerve, and/or a problem in the blood supply to the vital optic nerve fibers. Damage usually progresses very slowly and destroys vision gradually, starting with the peripheral vision. Usually, early damage can be masked because one eye covers for the other, and the person may remain unaware of any problem until a majority of nerve has been damaged, and a large part of vision has been destroyed. This damage is irreversible. Glaucoma can be progressive and usually relentless unless treated appropriately. Treatment cannot recover what has been lost but can arrest, or at least slow the progression.
Glaucoma can occur at any age but occurs more frequently during advancing years. It is very important to detect the problem as early as possible, to be able to start treatment with as little damage to the vision as possible. Individuals who are at more risk to develop glaucoma include: family history of glaucoma, diabetes, farsightedness, previous eye injuries, high blood pressure and chronic use of steroids. Annual eye exams are the standard in early detection. Various tests such as optic nerve examination, visual field assessment, eye pressure check, scanning of the optic nerve and corneal thickness examination are usually performed for diagnosis and to monitor disease progression.
Treatment is initiated with medication in the form of drops that must be used regularly and/or laser therapy (called SLT). There are surgical treatments as well, but these are usually reserved for patients who either do not respond to medical therapy, are not compliant with there treatment regimen or have advanced disease.
At North Shore Eye Care, our board certified eye doctors, Dr. S. Martin, Dr. Zweibel, Dr. J. Martin, and Dr. Mauro see many patients with glaucoma. In Long Island (Suffolk and Nassau Counties), we see patients from smithtown, nesconset, saint james, kings park, centereach, selden, coram, middle island, riverhead, ridge, stony brook, setauket, port jefferson, shoreham, wading river, miller place, mt sinai, rocky point, patchogue, medford, farmingdale, farmingville, bellport, bayport, blue point, yaphank, brookhaven, shirley, mastic, moriches, manorville, calverton, jamesport, cutchogue, mattituck, southold, eastport, westhampton, east hampton, southampton, sag harbor, montauk, amagansett, hampton bays, kings park, islandia, islip, hauppauge, lake grove, bohemia, ronkonkoma, holtsville, holbrook, sayville, commack, stony brook, setauket, port jefferson, nissequogue, head of the harbor, old field, poquott, belle terre, fort salonga huntington, northport, cold spring harbor, dix hills, melville, deer park, centerport, greenlawn, plainview woodbury, syosset, bethpage, massapequa, lindenhurst, sayville, bay shore, babylon, roslyn, great neck, manhasset, east meadow, merrick, rockville center, garden city, mineola, and many other towns including queens, brooklyn, manhattan.