Regular eye exams key to preventing vision loss, blindness caused by glaucoma, expert warns

The Canadian Ophthalmological Society says once the optic nerve is damaged, it cannot be repaired. The group urges people to seek regular checkups.

The Canadian Ophthalmological Society (COS) is urging people to get their eyes checked by their local optometrist, warning that early detection is the key to preventing vision loss caused by glaucoma.

Calgary Ophthalmologist Dr. Bryce Ford says about 50 per cent of people with glaucoma don’t even know they have it.

“This is why the Canadian Ophthalmological Society is so keen on raising awareness, so that people get checked and they can detect early signs and symptoms of glaucoma by getting regular examinations.”

Ford works out of Calgary’s Rockyview General Hospital and also serves as a clinical associate professor at the University of Calgary in the department of surgery.

He says Glaucoma can cause vision loss and blindness by damaging the optic nerve.

“If you think of your eye like a camera, your brain is what processes is the image, the optic nerve is like a USB cable that connects your eye to your brain,” Ford said.

“The optic nerve gets damaged over time – often related to high pressure inside your eyes – and that damage means death of the nerve cells in that optic nerve.”

Ford says this shows up as a loss of peripheral vision initially, but can progress to complete blindness if left untreated.

“You gradually, slowly lose your peripheral vision,” he explained. “And it’s often overlapped by the other eye – so with both eyes open, you don’t notice that maybe you’re losing a little bit of vision, so the problem with it is you feel fine, you see fine.”

The Canadian Ophthalmological Society says glaucoma is the leading cause of blindness in Canada and around the world, and it’s currently impacting 728,000 Canadians.

“Unfortunately, we cannot reverse glaucoma,” Ford said. “The optic nerve, much like the spinal cord, is central nervous system tissue so it doesn’t regenerate, it doesn’t heal itself.”

Evan Lundall, a medical professional living in Red Deer, says he was toldby a doctor that the pressure in his eyes was high and was referred to see Ford in Calgary.

Ford found Lundall was losing his peripheral vision.

“I didn’t realize that I had this chronic disease for which I felt nothing, saw nothing and didn’t have any adverse effects,” he said.

He was prescribed eye drops to start, then had laser therapy on both eyes.

“Then (Ford) did the visual field testing again and found that I had lost even more field of vision,” said Lundall. “At that point, he decided that perhaps what we should do now is move on to the surgical management for glaucoma.”

Lundall wasn’t sure about the procedure, but trusted his doctor’s advice.

“He said, ‘Evan, too many people come to me when they’ve lost so much vision that is irreversible, surgery won’t make that much of a difference,’” said Lundall. “Dr. Ford prefers to do the surgery while you have your visual fields relatively intact, and I think that made the difference for me.”

Lundall accepted that he has a chronic disease that isn’t going to get better on its own, but rather worse if not treated.

“Really, the only way to know for sure whether or not you do or do not have glaucoma is to see your eye-care professional,” said Ford.

Learn more about glaucoma here.