Glaucoma and Your Senior

Most people have heard of glaucoma, but might not be sure exactly what it is. The most common forms of glaucoma cause extreme pressure within your senior’s eye that cause irreparable damage. Getting a diagnosis of glaucoma isn’t necessarily a guarantee that your elderly family member will completely lose her vision, but it’s a possibility that she might have to face.

What Is Glaucoma?

It’s tempting to think of glaucoma as a single condition, but it’s really a group of various eye issues that cause damage to the optical nerve. This nerve is responsible for ensuring that your senior’s brain gets as much information as possible from the environment around her. If the optical nerve is damaged, it isn’t able to transmit any information at all. The most common way that the optical nerve becomes damaged is because of pressure within the eye itself.

Preventing Glaucoma

The best way to prevent glaucoma is for your elderly family member to get regular eye exams. Full eye exams test your senior’s eyes for a variety of issues, including glaucoma. The earlier that glaucoma is detected, the easier and more helpful treatment is likely to be. Your elderly family member’s eye doctor can help her to know what else she needs to do in order to help prevent glaucoma.

Symptoms of Glaucoma

Because glaucoma is a variety of conditions, there are also a variety of symptoms. Most forms of glaucoma have few or no symptoms that your senior is likely to notice. There might be symptoms like headaches, blurry vision, loss of peripheral vision, or worsening nearsightedness. Most of these symptoms come on gradually and can be easily attributed to something else. That’s why eye exams are so important.

Treating Glaucoma

Once glaucoma reaches a certain point, damage to the optical nerve can’t be reversed at all. Treating glaucoma in the earlier stages can help to reduce that damage and possibly preserve your senior’s vision for as long as possible. Medication may be prescribed by your senior’s eye doctor, so it’s important to stick with that care plan.

Living with Glaucoma

Your senior may need more help if she is diagnosed with glaucoma. Home care professionals can make sure that your elderly family member is safe at home and that her home is free of tripping hazards that might be difficult to avoid with damaged vision. Senior care providers can also help your elderly family member to remember to take her medications and follow other recommendations from her medical providers. If your senior’s vision is significantly damaged by glaucoma, home care providers can help her to handle all sorts of daily activities that she might find difficult to handle on her own.

The key with glaucoma is to prevent if possible and if not, to get a diagnosis as early as possible. Your elderly family member can still live a full and happy life with glaucoma, but she may need a little bit more help than she expects in order to do so.