Glaucoma 

On Friday night, when I looked at our Warriors vs Trinidad Knight Riders game and that umpire missed that straight LBW on Munro (who went on to clobber us over the boundary again and again), I knew exactly how Leo “the lip” Durocher felt, and saw that umpire developing glaucoma? I was fuming!
For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been in my “ENT and Ophthalmology” rotation. We didn’t rotate through either of those specialties in our fourth year so there’re a lot of things that are relatively brand new to learn about.

Our ophthalmology class last week focused on glaucoma. One of the most important points that stood out from the lecture was the importance of early screening for glaucoma. Unchecked, glaucoma can progress to irreversible blindness. In fact, glaucoma is the second most common cause of blindness worldwide. But the good news is that blindness is preventable if glaucoma is picked up early enough.
So what is glaucoma? Well, there are several types and are a group of diseases causing damage to the optic nerve by the effects of raised pressure in the eyes. The optic nerve is responsible for carrying visual information from our eyes to our brain to interpret. Our optic nerves aren’t capable of fixing themselves or regenerating if they’re damaged, so the damage is irreversible.
Our eyes are full of fluid that fills out their spherical shape. Normally, our body is good at balancing the production of that fluid with the removal of the fluid so that there is equilibrium. But if the fluid isn’t being drained properly, the fluid will build up in the eye. That fluid build-up leads to increased pressure in the eyes. That increased pressure is what damages the optic nerve and eventually leads to blindness.
And while it might seem like that pressure build-up within your eyes might be quite painful, it’s actually painless. And that’s the thing about glaucoma – the most common type, chronic open-angle glaucoma, actually doesn’t have any symptoms. There’s no warning shot before your vision deteriorates.
But as I said, glaucoma can be diagnosed before it causes blindness. You just need to go in and get your eyes checked. And if you do have glaucoma, there are medical and surgical options to manage your glaucoma and prevent a deterioration in your vision.
And glaucoma isn’t something that only happens to older people. Anyone can get glaucoma, so everyone should get their eyes checked at some point.
Persons with risk factors for glaucoma should especially get their eyes checked. Having a family history of glaucoma puts you at a higher risk of having glaucoma. Diabetes also increases your risk of glaucoma and with there being such a high incidence of this disease in our country, it makes regular eye check-ups even more necessary.
Persons who have had a traumatic injury to their eyes are also at a greater risk of developing glaucoma and it is recommended that they get their eyes tested yearly.
So if you haven’t had your eyes checked recently, make a plan to get them tested soon! So we’ll all be able to enjoy our cricket a lot longer – and question the eyesight of those umpires!