Glaucoma

Advanced Care for Glaucoma

Glaucoma is often referred to as the “silent thief of sight” because it is a very slow, painless disease that can cause blindness if left undetected or untreated.  Fortunately, Dr. Silverblatt has the latest diagnostic equipment allowing him to diagnose and treat glaucoma before it steals your vision.

High risk factors for glaucoma include:

• Persons over 35 years of age
• Persons of African American or Latino descent
• Persons who are highly nearsighted
• Persons with a family history of glaucoma, especially in a sibling
• Persons who have cardiovascular disease, especially diabetes

In its most common form, glaucoma is usually caused from increased eye pressure.  Dr. Silverblatt measures your eye pressure on every annual examination. If necessary, he will check more frequently using a simple test called Tonometry. An increase in eye pressure, over time, causes damage to the delicate optic nerve inside your eye. Dr. Silverblatt examines the optic nerve regularly by direct inspection and by using the Optomap retinal examination to compare any annual changes. 

If Dr. Silverblatt determines that you are indeed at high risk for vision loss due to glaucoma, he may order more specialized testing including; a Visual Fields test, Ultrasound Pachymetry and an Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) test of your optic nerve.

The Visual Fields equipment. This is a painless, computerized test which carefully measures peripheral vision, looking for any early or subtle changes in your vision which may be caused by glaucoma.  It is also used in testing patients who have a stroke or a neurological problem.

The Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT). This painless test measures the health of your optic nerve and the nerve fibers that allow you to see. It captures micrometer-resolution, three-dimensional images from within optical scattering media. It is highly accurate and gives a variety of information that enables Dr. Silverblatt to determine if glaucoma is present, or to accurately plan a course of treatment if diagnosed.

If Dr. Silverblatt diagnoses you with glaucoma, he will recommend an appropriate plan of treatment. Most of the time, glaucoma can be controlled (arrested) using eye drop medications.  LASER and surgical options are also a possibility.