Treatment Of Glaucoma

Glaucoma is a common and potentially serious eye health condition, and hearing that you have it can feel disconcerting. You naturally worry about your vision and wonder what you can do to preserve it. Since early glaucoma presents almost no symptoms, scheduling annual eye exams is the best thing you can do to stay on top of it in the beginning.

Symptoms and Consequences of Glaucoma

Glaucoma damages the optic nerve of the eyes, and it can occur at any age. However, this eye condition is much more prevalent in people over age 60. The type of symptoms you eventually experience depends on the type of glaucoma you have. Although open-angle glaucoma doesn’t present any symptoms initially, you should recognize it in the later stages. Typical symptoms then include:

• Patchy blind spots in your side/peripheral vision
• Difficulty seeing things clearly when using your central vision

Acute-angle closure glaucoma is not as common as the general type, and its symptoms are more severe. These include:

• Blurry vision
• Eye redness
• Nausea and/or vomiting
• Severe eye pain
• Severe headache

A third type of glaucoma in adults, known as normal-tension, produces no symptoms in the early stages and then gradually causes the loss of side vision. Vision also becomes blurrier over time.

Glaucoma Treatment in Wiggins, MS or Lucedale, MS

The Vision Center maintains full optometry practices in Wiggins and Lucedale for your convenience. Although the effects of glaucoma aren’t reversible, we can try several treatment approaches to determine which one provides you with the greatest symptom relief.

The goal of glaucoma treatment is to lower pressure within the eye. The most common and conservative treatment method is prescription eye drops, which comes in a variety of forms. After determining your most troubling symptoms, our optometrist will write a prescription based on how well the ingredients can reduce your issues. You may experience mild side effects as you adjust to the prescription eye drops, such as itching and irritation.

Laser therapy is another possibility for treating glaucoma. This can be the ideal option if you cannot tolerate eyedrops in your eyes or prefer to avoid surgery. Your optometrist shines a small light into the corner of each eye to improve how well they drain fluid. You should notice a difference in your symptoms within a few weeks.

Minimally invasive drainage tubes are a third possibility for glaucoma treatment in Wiggins, MS or Lucedale, MS. The tiny tubes sit at the corner of each eye and drain fluid that can make it challenging for you to see clearly.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out with questions or to schedule an appointment for glaucoma testing.