Are you getting confused with right and left sides when wearing slippers or shoes? Do you frequently spill a cup during meals? Although you may experience these situations inadvertently, sometimes, it may be a cause of a much bigger problem or a sign of some serious disease if they happen often.
It is estimated that over 60 million people are suffering from glaucoma across the world. In fact, it is the second-leading cause of blindness after cataracts. But more surprisingly, about 90% of people with glaucoma do not know that they have the condition. Yes, it is an eye disease that has almost no symptoms.
Not being able to travel, and quitting job are some of the common consequences of glaucoma. Furthermore, driving a car can be very dangerous for people with glaucoma. In the worst case, glaucoma can cause an increased risk of blindness.
In this article, we'll tell you the latest information about glaucoma, why it causes accidents or mishaps, and why you can be unaware that you have this condition. We'll also tell you how you can help prevent glaucoma or stop it from worsening.
In layman's term, glaucoma is a disease of the eye that impairs vision because of damage in the optic nerve. It causes gradual loss of sight, sometimes leading to blindness.
Diagnostic tests show that most people with glaucoma experiencing the above similar situations already have lost nearly half of their field of vision. Most importantly, they don't seem to notice that their field of vision is missing. How can this happen?
For you to understand how glaucoma affects our eyes, you'll first have to know how our eyes work.
When we see things, the information is received by the retina, which is a layer located at the back of our eyeballs, and forms an image. The image information is now carried to the brain through the optic nerves. In glaucoma, the retina is functioning normally but the optic nerves are damaged and will cause vision loss.
Pressure is being constantly applied to the retina (intraocular pressure [IOP]), but for some reason, the eye pressure becomes stronger and damages the optic nerves.
Below is a picture that shows how the image information is being transmitted to the brain with damaged optic nerves of a glaucoma patient. The dark areas are the blind spots.
If you look at the picture above, glaucoma seems to be very noticeable. Yet, why is it that a glaucoma patient can't notice this?
Latest studies show that on a glaucoma patient, rather than seeing blind spots, these visual defects are being filled-in by the brain based on the information received from the surrounding retina. This will result to what appears to be a corrected image.
Now based on the previous picture that shows blind spots, let's take again a closer look on what you will see in real time if you have glaucoma.
On the image below, a man at the front is walking towards you and enters your field of vision. However, the figure of the man seems to partly disappear. This shows that the brain is correcting the image based on the visible landscape.
Because the brain is correcting or filling-in the blind spots, glaucoma is truly difficult to detect.
Once you have glaucoma, you can no longer reverse it due to the extent of damage incurred. However, if treatment is done early, it is possible to stop the progression of the disease.
There are available surgeries for glaucoma but they are painful and these operations are only temporary solutions. Since the majority of glaucoma cases are caused by increased intraocular pressure, you can actually lower it using eye drops.
The eyes are naturally moist, and fluid is continuously produced to help circulate important nutrients to many parts of the eyes. With glaucoma, the eye pressure goes up because of increased accumulation of fluid. This often causes damage to the optic nerves.
The use of eye drops can be effective in reducing damage to the optic nerves as it has the effect of adjusting the amount of fluid in the eyes. This can greatly make the lives of glaucoma patients a lot easier. Because of the advances in medical care, the incidence of blindness due to glaucoma can be lessened.
It's also worth noting that patients with myopia are at a higher risk of having glaucoma. We recommend that eye examination is performed once every five years in people age 40 and above.
Since glaucoma occurs due to high eye pressure, lifestyle changes to lower your blood pressure may also work to lower your eye pressure. Here are things that you can do:
1. Control you blood sugar level. A high sugar intake is also linked to elevated blood pressure levels. This is especially true to people with diabetes and to those who are obese, thereby causing high eye pressure. Avoid excessive consumption of sugar, breads, rice, potatoes, cereals, grains, and pasta.
2. Do aerobic exercise. Studies show that intra-ocular pressure can be lowered through aerobic exercise. You can do a 20-minute brisk walking for at least four times a week.
Junji Takano is a Japanese health researcher involved in investigating the cause of many dreadful diseases. In 1968, he invented the PYRO-ENERGEN electrostatic therapy machine, which effectively eradicates viral diseases, cancer, and diseases of unknown cause.
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