Glaucoma is a group of diseases, all of which can damage the eyes’ optic nerves and lead to loss of vision and blindness. Glaucoma is sometimes called the “sneak thief” of sight, because it is a condition that causes no symptoms until it is often too late. It is estimated that in the United States, fifty percent of people who have glaucoma are unaware that they have the disease! Any person can develop glaucoma; some people are more at risk than others. Our comprehensive eye examinations always screen for glaucoma, and determine who may be a glaucoma suspect, someone at risk for developing glaucoma. With early diagnosis and treatment, you can protect your eyes from serious vision loss.

At Riverdale Eye Associates, we pride ourselves on our excellent glaucoma detection and treatment. We have the most up-to-date Humphrey visual field machine that utilizes several different testing strategies, each uniquely chosen for an individual patient. We measure eye pressure, assess central corneal thickness and dilate the eyes to examine the optic nerves directly. We have various methods to document the appearance of the optic nerve and nerve fiber layer, including an ophthalmic camera, an optical coherence tomographer (OCT), and a Heidelberg Retinal Tomograher (HRT.) All of these latest eye-imaging devices allow us to detect the earliest signs of glaucoma and create a baseline for follow-up examinations.

There is no cure for glaucoma, and vision that has been lost from glaucoma cannot be regained. That is why early detection is essential. Once detected, glaucoma requires chronic treatment. Nowadays, there are many drops available to treat glaucoma. If topical therapy with drops alone is not effective, our fellowship-trained glaucoma specialist, Kim Landzberg, M.D. can perform laser surgery in the office, using our brand new laser machine. There is also conventional glaucoma surgery in the operating room, if the eye pressure cannot be controlled with drops and laser alone. Dr. Landzberg also performs laser iridotomies for people with occludable narrow angles, to prevent an acute attack of angle closure glaucoma.