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| Dr. Keegan Johnson, M.D. |
When
you or someone you know is first diagnosed with glaucoma it can initially be in
one eye only. When we begin treating and monitoring the glaucoma to avoid
vision loss due to any progression of the disease, many patients ask us if it
will occur in their other eye. This is a pretty common question and until now
we have relied on our long term experience and clinical impressions to be able
to predict if and when glaucoma will affect the second eye. Researchers
recently performed a careful study to try and determine how likely it was that
your second eye would be affected and how long it would typically take. These
results were published in JAMA Ophthalmology and were based on
data from the Collaborative Initial Glaucoma
Treatment Study (CIGS)
that showed that typically within 7 years of diagnosis of glaucoma in the first
eye, the second eye would need treatment-with between 65-70% of glaucoma
patients needing treatment in the second eye during that time. The number who
needed treatment in the second eye increased with older age, hypertension,
higher intraocular pressure and greater evidence of damage to the optic nerve
in the first eye.
If
you or someone you know hasn’t had a recent eye exam with glaucoma testing
please schedule an appointment at Center for Sight
508-730-2020, visit Center for Sight, Google+ or www.facebook.com/centerforsightfallriver to schedule an appointment.
Center for Sight is conveniently located
at 1565
North Main Street, Suite 406, Fall River, Massachusetts 02720 for patients from
Massachusetts or Rhode Island.
