Glaucoma Treatment recommendations by Aarti Pandya, MD 2023: Aarti Pandya, MD, is a board-certified ophthalmologist who has been offering first-class eye care for over 20 years. She is committed to providing innovative medical and surgical solutions to common eye problems like dry eye, glaucoma, cataracts, age-related macular degeneration and refractive errors, and she is passionate about helping her patients attain and maintain optimal ocular health. See even more information at Aarti Pandya, MD.
It’s Safe, Effective and Inexpensive: More than 2 million cataract surgeries are performed every year in the United States alone. It’s considered to be one of the safest and most effective surgical procedures available. To complete your procedure, all that’s left for us to do is close the tiny incision and place a protective cover over the eye. Patients typically see clearly immediately the next day.
If you are one of the more than 30 million Americans living with diabetes, you’re no doubt aware of the many adverse health issues associated with the metabolic disease. In addition to maintaining general health checkups to manage your diabetes, it’s also imperative that you schedule regular eye exams to check for diabetic retinopathy, a leading cause of vision loss among working-age Americans. African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans all face higher rates of diabetic retinopathy. If you have high blood pressure, high cholesterol or are not effectively managing your blood glucose levels your risk of diabetic retinopathy is increased substantially. Tobacco use and pregnancy also can increase your risk.
What Is Dry Eye Syndrome? Dry eye is a condition in which the body produces an insufficient quantity or quality of tears. Without tears, the eyes are not adequately lubricated, causing a gritty sensation. A majority of dry eye cases involve the meibomian glands, which secrete lipids (oils) to slow the evaporation of tears. When the meibomian glands malfunction or become plugged, tears evaporate too quickly and cannot lubricate the eyes properly.
Glaucoma is a serious eye condition that can irreversibly damage vision. It is the leading cause of blindness for people over the age of 60 and can often progress without any noticeable symptoms. In fact, of the nearly 3 million Americans who have glaucoma, it’s estimated that only 50 percent are aware they have the condition. This puts 1.5 million Americans at risk of permanent glaucoma vision loss. Who Is at Risk? If you are over the age of 40, you are at greater risk of vision deterioration, and therefore more susceptible to glaucoma and other eye conditions such as cataracts and macular degeneration. But age is just one of a number of glaucoma risk factors.