Your July Newsletter from Glaucoma Research Foundation.
| | You just learned you have to switch insurance plans, you're moving to a new city, or your ophthalmologist is retiring. If you have glaucoma, you're wondering: What will my new eye doctor need to hit the ground running and manage my disease? In my experience, to make a smooth transition to optimal care, the most important thing you can do is create a personal Glaucoma Data Portfolio. Here's how: | | Your Glaucoma Data Portfolio
1. What is your specific diagnosis? - Are you a glaucoma "suspect" your ophthalmologist is following because of your family history or suspicion of optic nerve damage? Do you have ocular hypertension?
- If you have glaucoma, what type is it? There are many - is it primary open-angle glaucoma (the most common form in the US), angle-closure, normal-tension or another form?
| | 2. When were you diagnosed and how? Was your diagnosis based on elevated eye pressure, optic nerve damage or visual field tests?
3. Who else in your family has the disease and to what degree? Has anyone lost vision or needed surgery? | | Questions to Ask Your Doctor
If you have been diagnosed with glaucoma, obtaining treatment and following your treatment plan are essential to preserving your eyesight.
As a newly diagnosed person with glaucoma, you may need to have your eye pressure checked every week or month until it is under control. Even when your eye pressure is at a safe level, you may need to see your doctor several times a year for checkups. It is important that your doctor listens and responds to your concerns and questions, is willing to explain your treatment options, and is available for calls and checkups. If you do not feel confident and comfortable with your doctor, remember, you always have the right to seek a second opinion. A good working relationship with your eye doctor facilitates effective treatment. | | |
Understand Your Glaucoma Diagnosis
The diagnosis of glaucoma is made when your eye doctor notices a particular type of damage in the optic nerve known as "cupping." This diagnostic finding can occur with or without high intraocular pressure.
A normal intraocular pressure (IOP) ranges between 12 and 22 mmHg (millimeters of mercury, a measurement of pressure). While it is more likely that you will have or develop glaucoma if your eye pressures are high, many people with high eye pressures never develop glaucoma. | | At Glaucoma Research Foundation, our mission is to cure glaucoma and restore vision through innovative research. Your gift today will support The Cure is in Sight Campaign to advance sight-saving research and provide essential educational resources for glaucoma patients.
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