Glaucoma Awareness Month: What to Know

January is Glaucoma Awareness Month, so now is the best time for you to start thinking about your own eye health. As a progressive disease with few initial symptoms, it is critical that you schedule routine eye exams to ensure you are not at risk for this condition. Without treatment, it can cause you to slowly lose your vision, but treatment options may be available to avoid those outcomes.

What You Need to Know About Glaucoma

Since January is Glaucoma Awareness Month, it is the ideal time to talk a bit about what this condition is and how it impacts your eye health. This condition impacts the optic nerve, which is the nerve that connects the eye to the brain, helping to relay messages to the brain about what you see. There are various causes of glaucoma, but they all center around damage to this nerve.

There is no cure for this condition, but there are effective strategies that can reduce the worsening and slow progression. If left untreated, though, it can lead to blindness or significant vision loss. If you have any of the following symptoms, it may be time to consider an eye exam:

• Eye pain or pressure
• Low vision or changes to your vision
• Reduction in peripheral vision
• Headaches
• Halos of light around your vision

How Is Glaucoma Diagnosed?

Any changes to your vision warrant a trip to the eye doctor. Adults 60 and above, African Americans over 40, and anyone with a family history of glaucoma should have a dilated eye exam every year or two. The sooner you receive treatment, the more an eye doctor can help preserve your vision.

Schedule a Consultation with an Eye Doctor Today

At Millennium Park Eye Center, we can offer eye exams and treatment for glaucoma. Our facility is part of the University of Illinois at Chicago Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences. With over 150 years of service, we are among the leading providers of eye care and treatment in the greater Chicago area. We encourage you to care for your vision during Glaucoma Awareness Month and the rest of the year. Please call us now at 312-996-2020 to schedule an appointment or visit our contact page.