Glaucoma

Treating Patients With Glaucoma at Our Eye Center

What is Glaucoma?

Glaucoma is an ocular condition where pressure within the eye builds up and damages the optic nerve. Continual damage without treatment can lead to permanent vision loss. It would be best to visit Tupelo Eye Center regularly for diagnosis and treatment before glaucoma can cause long-term damage. Our doctors will help you determine how often you need to visit our office. With the proper care and treatment of glaucoma, the eye damage and loss of vision can be slowed and controlled.

Treatments & Tips for Glaucoma Patients

We are often asked, “Is there anything I can do for my glaucoma besides using my eye drops?". While eye drops are the traditional care for treating glaucoma, there is a minimally invasive surgery that can reduce or eliminate the need for eye drops. Read more about it here. Using glaucoma eye drops as prescribed is the most important thing that you can do. That includes:

Adhering to the schedule prescribed by your ophthalmologist and not missing drops.
Accuracy in getting the drops in the eye.
Allowing the drops to soak in for 3-5 minutes with both eyes closed, not squeezing.

Some additional tips can help:
- Aerobic exercise (walking) 30-45 minutes per day three to four times per week was found to decrease intraocular pressure.
- Taking blood pressure medication in the morning and not at night is helpful. (Consult your primary care physician before changing.)
- If you use a topical beta blocker eye drop once daily, use it in the morning. If twice a day, use morning and night.
- Leafy green vegetables are high in nitrates. Nitric oxide is a vasodilator that may increase the eye's blood flow.
- If you have obstructive sleep apnea, use a CPAP or similar device. It is important to have adequate oxygen to the optic nerve at night.
Things to approach with caution:
- Doing anything in a prolonged head-down position.
- Yoga positions where the head down increases your eye pressure.
- Weeding the garden with your head down increases your eye pressure.
- Playing a musical instrument that causes the blood to rush to your face and neck veins to stand out can increase your eye pressure