How to avoid glaucoma
Knowing that you are at risk for glaucoma, the second leading cause of blindness, can be scary, but the condition is preventable. Glaucoma has multiple causes and occurs when the optical nerve is damaged, usually by abnormally high eye pressure. Symptoms of glaucoma can be so gradual that it is often not diagnosed until the disease is in the advanced stages. This slow progress makes it essential to know how to avoid glaucoma ahead of time for good eye health.
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Instructions
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Avoiding Glaucoma
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Get regular eye exams. This is the single best step that you can take to avoid glaucoma. If you are between the ages of 18 and 60, you should have a complete eye exam every other year. For those over 60, or in the high-risk category, complete eye exams are needed every year, according to the Mayo Clinic. For African Americans, yearly eye exams should start at the age of 30 due to increased risk.
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Treat elevated eye pressure immediately. Once elevated eye pressure is diagnosed, The Mayo Clinic says, using pressure-reducing drops will reduce the pressure by up to an average of 22 percent almost immediately.
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Maintain a healthy weight. Being overweight increases insulin resistance, which, in turn, has been shown to increases eye pressure. By maintaining a healthy weight, insulin resistance may decrease and along with it, eye pressure, according to the Mayo Clinic.
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Maintain a healthy blood pressure. High blood pressure has been linked to an increase in pressure in the eyes. Lowering blood pressure also lowers eye pressure, decreasing the risk of glaucoma.
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Protect your eyes. Eye damage is a leading cause of glaucoma. Wear eye protection anytime you are at risk of being hit in the eye, such as when using power tools or welding.
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Tips & Warnings
Catching glaucoma in the early stages is best. Therefore, it is important to know its signs and symptoms: tunnel vision, sudden and severe pain in one eye, decreased or cloudy vision, rainbowlike halos around lights, red eye, swollen eye, cloudiness of the front of the eye, and tearing.
Tip: It is important to know when to contact an ophthalmologist. Anytime you experience any of the above eye symptoms, you should ask your physician for a referral to an ophthalmologist. It is important to start treatment early and to follow the prescribed treatment plan precisely.
The steps above can help prevent glaucoma; however, know the risk factors that you cannot control. These include pre-existing medical conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes, being over 60 years old, family history and race and ethnicity. African-Americans are six to eight times as likely to get glaucoma, closely followed by Mexican-Americans.
