Glaucoma is a progressive group of disease(s), which causes optic nerve degeneration over time. The optic nerve is the main nerve responsible for vision. It is like a cable connecting the eye to the brain. As it degenerates, vision loss occurs. This loss may be very subtle at first, and therefore may not be noticed until much later in the disease. Like a "thief in the night", glaucoma damage may creep up on people without being noticed. Therefore, it is important for everyone to get routine eye checks to ensure that your eyes are healthy or that you are receiving the treatment you need to prevent a silent eye disease from getting worse.

Visit our FAQ page about Glaucoma for more information.

The best thing you can do is keep a positive and optimistic outlook. Glaucoma is a chronic illness which needs to be regularly monitored. With routine monitoring and management, most people with glaucoma do well. Make sure you follow-up with your optometrist or ophthalmologist and follow their instructions. If you are having problems with any of the treatments, let them know.

Eating a healthy diet including green leafy vegetables, exercising regularly and managing your other medical problems (particularly diabetes and high blood pressure) will help your eyes stay healthy as well. If you are a smoker, quit smoking. Smoking decreases oxygen to your eye nerves and makes them sicker. Sleeping with the head of your bed elevated to about 30º lowers eye pressure. If you have advanced glaucoma, extreme weight lifting or playing certain instruments (like a trumpet) would not be advisable since they may increase the pressure in your head and also in your eyes. Sleep apnea and low blood pressure at night can cause glaucoma to get worse. You should be checked for these if you have any symptoms or risk factors for them; they should be treated to prevent worsening glaucoma.

These days, due to improved screening and treatment modalities, most people do not go completely blind from glaucoma. The best way to prevent vision loss from glaucoma is to diagnose and treat it early in the disease process. It is strongly recommended that everyone, especially those who have a family history of glaucoma or any other risk factors, have a screening eye exam to rule out eye disease. This is important because unless you get tested, you may not realize you have glaucoma. Most forms of glaucoma are silent and rarely cause symptoms until the advanced stages. If you have already lost vision from glaucoma, working with your ophthalmologist and optometrist to monitor and stabilize your disease will be key in slowing down the progression of glaucoma and preventing more vision loss.

To apply your eye drops:

1. First sit down comfortably.
2. Shake the bottle a few times (some medications are suspensions and need to be shaken prior to use).
3. Put your head back and look up while pulling your lower lid down.
4. Aim the bottle tip over your eye and drop the eye drop. Avoid touching your eye lashes with the tip of the eye-dropper. Try to avoid dropping excess amounts of drops in your eye which will just be wasted.
5. Wipe away any excess drops with a wet tissue (not a dry one) to wipe away any drop residue from your skin. In the case of some drops (eg. Travatan Z®, Duotrav®, Lumigan RC®, Xalatan® and Xalacom® and their generic equivalents), eye drop residue can cause darkening of the skin. Using a wet tissue to wipe the excess away will help prevent this temporary side effect (darkening disappears if the eye drop is stopped).
6. Press the tissue in the corner of your eye near your nose for 1 minute to avoid drainage of the drop into your nose and throat. This will prevent side effects to your body.
7. If you are taking more than one drop, wait a minimum of 2 minutes between drops before applying the next one. This will ensure that each drop has some time to be absorbed.

For a downloadable brochure on how to apply drops:

www.glaucomaresearch.ca/resources/brochures

Eye ointments should always be applied a few minutes AFTER any eye drops are applied. Be aware that ointment will blur your vision for a few minutes. Use the following steps to apply ointment:

1. Sit down comfortably and put your head back.
2. Pull your lower lid down.
3. Apply ointment into the pocket that is formed when your lid is pulled away from your eye. You can put in about ½ inch strip of ointment. Try not to touch the tip of the tube to the lids.
4. Blinking the eyes will spread the ointment to the upper lids as well.
5. If you are unable to apply the ointment as described above, you can also put some ointment on your clean index finger and wipe the ointment onto the edge of your eyelids while the eyes are closed.
6. Wipe off the excess with a clean tissue.