Glaucoma is a major cause of vision loss in the United States, affecting about 2.2 million Americans. During January 2012—Glaucoma Awareness Month—National Eye Institute (NEI) and Jennings Center for Older Adults remind you that early detection and treatment is the best way to prevent vision loss. Glaucoma is detected during routine eye exams; there aren’t early symptoms of this silent disease.
NEI advises everyone to have routine eye exams, and those at risk of glaucoma should get a comprehensive dilated eye exam every one to two years. NEI leads research toward better prevention, detection, and treatment of this often silent but devastating disease.
Glaucoma is a group of diseases that damages the optic nerve, the bundle of nerve cells that relays visual information from the eye to the brain. In the most common form of glaucoma, called primary open angle glaucoma, nerve damage results from an increase in intraocular pressure — the pressure inside the eye. Increased intraocular pressure occurs when the fluid that circulates in and out of the front part of the eye drains too slowly.
Glaucoma is usually painless, initially affects peripheral vision, and progresses slowly, which helps explain why half of all people with glaucoma are unaware they have it. Without adequate treatment, glaucoma eventually affects central vision and progresses to blindness. Vision loss from glaucoma is irreversible.
Glaucoma is a complex disease and progress toward preventing or reversing the condition has been slow. NEI’s multipronged approach to glaucoma research is making great strides. Studies funded by NEI have identified populations at higher risk of glaucoma, including African-Americans ages 40 and older; everyone age 60 and older, especially Mexican-Americans; and people with a family history of the disease. Medicated eye drops to reduce intraocular pressure are effective at delaying or preventing disease among people identified to be at high risk of glaucoma. Specific traits such as race/ethnicity can help predict which type of surgical treatment is more likely to achieve better visual results.
The NEI National Eye Health Education Program (NEHEP) provides a variety of educational resources, in English and Spanish, as part of its broad eye health outreach effort. New this year is the Keep Vision in Your Future Glaucoma Toolkit, designed for health professionals and community organizations to raise awareness about the importance of comprehensive dilated eye exams for early detection of glaucoma.
Help spread the word this January. Early detection and treatment is the best way to prevent vision loss from glaucoma. Encourage those at risk to get a comprehensive dilated eye exam.
Written by Paul A. Sieving, M.D., Ph.D., director of the National Eye Institute
For more information about glaucoma research programs at NEI, visit www.nei.nih.gov.
For more information about glaucoma, comprehensive dilated eye exams, and financial assistance available for eye care, visit www.nei.nih.gov/glaucoma.
To find educational resources available from NEHEP, visit www.nei.nih.gov/nehep/programs/glaucoma.
The National Eye Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, leads the federal government’s research on the visual system and eye diseases. NEI supports basic and clinical science programs that result in the development of sight-saving treatments. For more information, visit www.nei.nih.gov.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
