glaucomawa

To all potential glaucoma sufferers

Did you know that glaucoma is a terrible eye disease for which there is no known cure?

Did you know that every man, woman and child alive today, including you, will eventually develop glaucoma, providing that they or you manage to live long enough?

Did you know that at the time of his death on 16 August 1977, Elvis Presley was suffering from glaucoma?

Glaucoma occurs when vision is lost due to damage to the optic nerve caused by excessive pressure within the eye . 300,000 Australians have glaucoma and 150,000 Australians have the disease and do not even know that they have it. That is the type of eye condition that it is. You may be one of the poor, unfortunate 150,000 Australians who do not even know that they have the disease. 65 million people throughout the world have glaucoma and 2 million people in the U.S. have the disease.

You cannot diagnose glaucoma by yourself and many people affected by glaucoma may not even be aware of any vision loss. It is important to remember that while it is more common in the elderly, glaucoma can occur at any age. Usually, there are no symptoms or warning signs in the early stages of this eye condition. The loss of sight is usually gradual and a considerable amount of side vision may be lost before a person becomes aware of any problems. No wonder it is often referred to as the sneak thief of sight.

What causes glaucoma? Glaucoma affects the optic nerve connecting the eye to the brain. Damage very often occurs when the intraocular pressure (IOP) the main risk factor for glaucoma is too high. This happens when the drainage of the aqueous humor within the eye is blocked.

While most types of glaucoma involve elevated IOP, there is a kind of glaucoma called normal tension glaucoma (NTG) in which the IOP is within the normal range and yet the person still develops glaucoma.

Now, what can be done about this dreadful eye condition called glaucoma?

The first thing to do is to go to an OPTOMETRIST and have your eyes checked out for glaucoma. Eye pressure can vary hourly, daily and weekly and is dependent on many factors. A statistically normal eye pressure varies between 10 and 21 mm Hg (millimetres of mercury, a scale used for recording the eye pressure). In general, the higher the pressure, the more risk to the optic nerve.

If you were to obtain a reading of say, greater than 21 mm Hg, then you are automatically classified as a glaucoma suspect and you will be sent off to an OPHTHALMOLOGIST who will either confirm or deny the diagnosis. If he confirms the diagnosis then it is at this stage that your worst nightmare begins.

As mentioned previously, there is no cure for glaucoma. So that you will spend the rest of your life engaged in a bitter struggle against glaucoma. You will first try using anti glaucoma eye drops for a

number of years only to find out that they are only just a temporary fix. You will then try using a ghastly type of surgery called TRABECULECTOMY only to find out that it is only a temporary fix as well, that is assuming that it works in the first place. TRABECULECTOMY involves removal of part of the eye's trabecular meshwork and adjacent structures. It allows drainage of aqueous humor from within the eye to underneath the conjunctiva, where it is absorbed.

Despite all of your best efforts, in the end you will find out that glaucoma wins . Glaucoma always wins in the end. Sorry to be the bearer of such bad news. So that if you are fortunate enough never to contract the disease yourself, but happen to meet a glaucoma sufferer, show a bit of sympathy and understanding towards them. Do not react like Mark McGowan, or Roger Cook, or Ben Wyatt, or Kate Doust, or members of the McGowan Government, or certain members of the medical profession in Western Australia.

You may read about my struggle with glaucoma and the inept Government bureaucracy that I faced in Western Australia by clicking onto my other websites listed below and no, your computer, or tablet, or mobile phone will not catch a virus. You may even find some of the information useful to yourself or to members of your family or to relatives of yours because it is written from the point of view of a patient and not from the point of view of a member of the medical profession.

SOURCES

https://sites.google.com/view/keratoconus

https://sites.google.com/view/markmcgowan

https://sites.google.com/view/royalperthhospital

https://sites.google.com/view/lionseyeinstituteofwa

https://sites.google.com/view/haigis

https://sites.google.com/view/cystoidmacularedema

https://sites.google.com/view/cataractoperation

https://sites.google.com/view/xengelstent

https://sites.google.com/view/xen45

https://sites.google.com/view/cypass

https://sites.google.com/view/zioptan