Specialty Eye Exam Services in the Bay Area, CA – Glaucoma Testing

Our doctors are trained to detect, diagnose, and treat glaucoma. Glaucoma is a “silent” eye disease that can cause complete blindness. It is estimated that over 80 million people worldwide have glaucoma, with approximately 6.7 million people suffering from vision blindness. Glaucoma is the leading cause of blindness in African-Americans, who are 6-8 times more likely to develop glaucoma than Caucasians.

Glaucoma is an eye disease in which vision loss is caused by damage to the optic nerve. The optic nerve serves as a cable that connects all the visual information from the eye to the brain.

Symptoms of vision loss are not apparent in the early stages of glaucoma, which is why having your eyes checked yearly is vital in the early detection of glaucoma. By the time a person notices some loss of vision, there is already considerable damage to the eye. Most of the vision loss due to glaucoma is irreversible. The vision loss generally affects the peripheral vision first and then attacks the central vision as the disease progresses.

Presently, there is no cure for glaucoma. However, the treatments available are effective and can slow down or prevent further vision loss. The treatments include using eye drops to help decrease the pressure of the eye or surgical intervention.