Knowing Your Risks Can Stop the Sneak Thie...(2007 by the Academy for the EyeSmartcamp...),Health

Date:1/3/2008

2007 by the Academy for the EyeSmart campaign found that only 24 percent of people in ethnic groups at higher risk for glaucoma were aware of their risk, and only 16 percent of those with a family history of eye disease, including glaucoma, could correctly identify the risk factors for those diseases.

Other glaucoma risk factors include aging, nearsightedness, previous eye injuries, steroid use, and health conditions including cardiovascular disorders, diabetes, and migraine headache.

For individuals with symptoms of or at risk for eye diseases like glaucoma, the Academy recommends that they see their ophthalmologist to determine how frequently their eyes should be examined. The Academy recommends that those with no symptoms or risk factors for eye disease get a baseline screening at age 40 when the signs of disease and change in vision may start to occur.

About Glaucoma

Glaucoma damages the optic nerve, the part of the eye that carries the images we see to the brain. As glaucoma worsens, cells die in the retina -- a special, light-sensitive area of the eye -- reducing the optic nerve's ability to relay visual information to the brain. In the most common form of the disease, open-angle glaucoma, peripheral vision usually narrows, then other blank spots occur in the visual field. Symptoms of the less common but more acutely dangerous form of the disease, closed-angle glaucoma, include blurred vision, severe eye pain and headache, rainbow-colored halos around lights, and nausea and vomiting. Anyone with these symptoms needs to be seen by an Eye M.D. right away.

More information on glaucoma and how to preserve vision, as well as how to access care, is available on the Academy-sponsored web site http://www.geteyesmart.org. Additional information is also available at the American Glaucoma Society web site, http://www.glaucomaweb.org
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SOURCE American Academy of Ophthalmology Copyright©2008 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

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