Illinois Society for the Prevention of Blindness

When an early cataract appears, its progress will be carefully watched by your eye care professional. Surgery is usually not recommended until the cataract begins to affect everyday activities, such as driving, reading or watching TV.

Yes. Your eye care professional may suggest laser surgery in which a strong lightbeam is aimed onto the retina to shrink the abnormal vessels.

Finding and treating the disease early, before it causes vision loss or blindness, is the best way to control diabetic eye disease.

While chronic glaucoma cannot be cured, it can be controlled and held in check, chiefly through the use of daily medications that either increase fluid removal from the eye or decrease the amount of fluid produced within the eye.

Glaucoma treatment is aimed at controlling the eye's fluid pressure as a means of slowing disease progression. Such treatment does not cure the disease.

It is virtually impossible to prevent most eye diseases but in some cases, it is possible to prevent blindness or serious vision impairment caused by these diseases. A first step in detecting macular degeneration is to take the Amsler grid test. More importantly, you should see your eye doctor regularly. One fact bears repeating: Successful treatment for macular degeneration and many other eye diseases depends on early detection.

When an early cataract appears, its progress will be carefully watched by your eye care professional. Surgery is usually not recommended until the cataract begins to affect everyday activities, such as driving, reading or watching TV.

• Age-related cataract:

  This is the most common type, which relates to aging. The term “age-related” is a little misleading. You do not have to be a senior citizen to get this type of cataract. People can have an age-related cataract in their 40s and 50s. But during middle age, most cataracts are small and do not affect vision. It is after age 60 that the opacities in the lens become more prevalent.

Once in a while a part of the natural lens not removed in cataract surgery becomes cloudy, causing possible blurred vision.

Don't lose sight of diabetic eye disease

Diabetes is a very serious disease that can cause problems like blindness, heart disease, kidney failure, and amputations.

Yes. Your eye care professional may suggest laser surgery in which a strong lightbeam is aimed onto the retina to shrink the abnormal vessels.

If you have diabetes, you should have your eyes examined at least once a year.

Finding and treating the disease early, before it causes vision loss or blindness, is the best way to control diabetic eye disease.

Diabetic eye disease refers to a group of eye problems that people with diabetes may face as a complication of this disease. All can cause severe vision loss or even blindness.

People at high risk for glaucoma need to receive a dilated eye exam at least every two years. Individuals at high risk for glaucoma include Blacks over age 40, everyone over age 60, and people with a family history of glaucoma.

The loss of sight is gradual. It begins as loss of side vision, then it continues toward the center of vision, until finally all sight is destroyed. Because the visual loss is gradual in the early stages of the disease, few signs of the disorder are recognized.

There are two major kinds of glaucoma.

In an eye with open-angle glaucoma, the aqueous humor drains too slowly through the channel system, creating a chronic rise in fluid pressure inside the eye. This elevated pressure may gradually interrupt the metabolic processes of cells in the optic nerve, leading to a progressive destruction of nerve fibers that are essential for vision.

Glaucoma treatment is aimed at controlling the eye's fluid pressure as a means of slowing disease progression. Such treatment does not cure the disease.

Although open-angle glaucoma can affect anyone, it is most prevalent in Blacks over age 40 and anyone over age 60. As people grow older, age-related changes in the eyes make them more susceptible to open-angle glaucoma.

Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases in which the pressure inside the eye rises above normal. This excessive pressure can destroy both retinal cells and optic nerve fibers and blind the eye.

It is virtually impossible to prevent most eye diseases but in some cases, it is possible to prevent blindness or serious vision impairment caused by these diseases. A first step in detecting macular degeneration is to take the Amsler grid test. More importantly, you should see your eye doctor regularly. One fact bears repeating: Successful treatment for macular degeneration and many other eye diseases depends on early detection.

Those with "dry" macular degeneration will not experience a tremendous change in vision. There may be some blurriness or difficulty in reading but this should not interfere with everyday tasks.

Don't lose sight of diabetic eye disease

Diabetes is a very serious disease that can cause problems like blindness, heart disease, kidney failure, and amputations.

Not totally, but your risk can be greatly reduced. The Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) showed that better control of blood sugar level slows the onset and progression of retinopathy and lessens the need for laser surgery for severe retinopathy.

If you have diabetes, you are also at risk for other diabetic eye diseases. Studies show that you are twice as likely to get a cataract as a person who does not have the disease. Also, cataracts develop at an earlier age in people with diabetes. Cataracts can usually be treated by surgery.

Often there are none in the early stages of the disease. Vision may not change until the disease becomes severe. Nor is there any pain.

Diabetic retinopathy. This disease is a leading cause of blindness in American adults. It is caused by changes in the blood vessels of the retina.

Glaucoma is not contagious, but glaucoma is likely to "run" in families.

While chronic glaucoma cannot be cured, it can be controlled and held in check, chiefly through the use of daily medications that either increase fluid removal from the eye or decrease the amount of fluid produced within the eye.

Open-angle glaucoma is the most common form of glaucoma, an eye disease that is a leading cause of blindness in the United States.

The most reliable way to detect open-angle glaucoma is through a comprehensive eye examination with dilated pupils--which, when indicated, includes a visual field test.

At its onset, open-angle glaucoma usually has no symptoms.