It is estimated that around 3 million Americans have glaucoma, this makes it one of the leading causes of blindness in the US. Start healthy this year by learning about this disease, who it mostly affects and how to start taking steps to reduce your risk of vision loss.

What is glaucoma

Glaucoma is a disease that damages your eye’s optic nerve. This happens when fluid builds up in the front part of your eye. The extra fluid increases the pressure in your eye, damaging the optic nerve. This damage leads to patients losing their vision, if not properly treated, can lead to blindness. Glaucoma is often called “the sneak thief of sight” because it has no symptoms until significant vision loss has occurred, and although there is no cure, routine eye exams for a diagnosis, medication or surgery can slow or prevent further vision loss.

Although anyone can suffer from glaucoma, there are certain groups that are at higher risk. People from African-American descent are 6 to 8 times more likely to get glaucoma. Also people with family members with glaucoma are considered at high risk. If you have diabetes or take corticosteroid you have a higher than normal risk of getting glaucoma.

According to the AAO ( American Academy of Ophthalmology) The only sure way to diagnose glaucoma is with a complete eye exam. A glaucoma screening that only checks eye pressure is not enough to find glaucoma.If you’re at high risk for glaucoma, you should have a dilated pupil eye examination at least every one to two years. To help diagnose glaucoma, an ophthalmologist or optometrist will perform a comprehensive eye exam