This is Glaucoma Awareness Month and experts are cautioning us to take the condition seriously to protect our eye health.

Dr. Hady Saheb, President of the Canadian Glaucoma Society, explains the condition.

“Glaucoma is the most common cause for irreversible blindness in North America so it’s definitely an important condition. Essentially it is a disease where there is damage to the nerve of the eye, the optic nerve, often caused by pressure in the eye and that damage can lead to loss of peripheral vision and even central vision in more advance cases.”  

The main risk factors for glaucoma are age, family history,  and then certain ethnicities are more likely to develop the condition.

He warns that there are no symptoms of glaucoma and that patients often won’t know they have it until their vision is already damaged.

Saheb shares that glaucoma, if detected early through regular eye checkups, is treatable through drops or surgery and blindness could then be avoided.

Learn more about glaucoma, its current treatments and advances in those treatments.  Catch Thompson Today at 12:40 and 5:10 this afternoon.