“The Silent Thief of Sight” sounds like a villain from a comic book, doesn’t it? Sadly, it’s the nickname for a very real disease called “glaucoma”. This disease slowly damages the eye and can cause irreparable harm before any lost vision, hence its evil moniker. The scariest part is that doctors still don’t know what causes it, and cannot cure the disease. The only hope is to catch it early in its tracks and slow down the damaging process with medication.
Diseases like these are scary. They creep up on you and cause permanent damage without so much as a symptom. That’s why doctors around the world spend January raising awareness about glaucoma. Here are some tidbits you should know about this disease:
There is still no cure for glaucoma, but they are working feverishly to find one.
Hemin Chin, Director of the Glaucoma and Optic Neuropathies program at the National Eye Institute says, “Primary open-angle glaucoma remains a black box, but researchers are pursuing many avenues to investigate the underlying causes. As we develop a better understanding of the disease process, we hope this will lead to new, more effective treatments and possibly even preventive therapies for it.”
The most common type of glaucoma is hereditary.
The most commonly diagnosed type of glaucoma, primary open-angle glaucoma, is hereditary. This means if there is a member of your immediate family diagnosed with the disease, your chances of developing it are 4 to 9 times higher than the rest of the population(1)!
While there is no cure for glaucoma, its development CAN be slowed down drastically.
Glaucoma patients use special eye drops to lower the pressure in the eye and prevent damage to the optic nerve. This slows down the progression of the disease and helps preserve vision. It is important to note that these eye drops will not heal or restore vision in the eye; it slows down the damaging effects.
MGM Benefits Group believes in using your benefits to the fullest. That’s why we suggest that you go get your eyes checked every year if you have vision insurance! If you don’t have vision insurance, what are you waiting for? Check out the benefits that come with this affordable benefit in the video below:
If you have any questions about vision insurance, be sure to email us at sales@mgmbenefits.com or tweet us @mgmbenefits!
