Save your eyes!

This fundraiser is really a public service announcement about getting your eyes checked. If my story improves awareness, I’ll consider that a success.

Additionally, if it encourages you to take action for your own well-being and go to an ophthalmologist, would you please consider supporting me? Your donation will be used to directly pay for the costs of my two lens replacement surgeries that are not covered by insurance. Any amount is truly appreciated.

Most important: Please share this as you see fit. My main concern is that this eye-saving information isn’t widely known.

Misdiagnosis

One day three years ago, I noticed my right eye could not see clearly. Nothing hurt, nothing was red, no headaches. I couldn't see well, but I couldn't figure out why. I don't know how long this had been happening because I usually don't look out of just my right eye. I wondered, "What could be causing this? Is it stress? Maybe lack of sleep. Maybe just working too hard?" I was finishing my Ph.D. dissertation and spending many long hours in front of the computer. But, after I finished, I noticed that my eye was not getting better, even with rest.

I went to my optometrist for a checkup, and she said everything was fine. She checked my eye pressure, looked at my eyes' optic nerves, said all looked good, and gave me a new reading prescription.

Another two weeks went by, but there was still no improvement. So, I made an appointment with an ophthalmologist at the Shiley Eye Institute in San Diego. When they checked my eye pressure, they repeated the measurements several times because they were so high (I think the tech was shocked). Normal eye pressure is between 10 to 20 mmHg. Mine was 32 in the left eye and 58 in the right eye (the one that wasn't seeing correctly).

My ophthalmologist diagnosed "severe" glaucoma and told me the damage was done. All they could do was try to prevent it from getting worse. It wasn't going to get better.

What Glaucoma Does to the Eyes

Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide and affects more than 2.7 million individuals age 40 or older in the United States. However, it can also occur at any age, with or without risk factors.

In general, there are two types of glaucoma. The most common type is "open angle" glaucoma, which usually causes slow vision loss. I was diagnosed with the other, less common type called "angle-closure" glaucoma. This type can cause rapid loss of sight and is more likely to lead to blindness.

At this time, I have lost almost all vision in my right eye, even after taking three medications (eye drops in the morning and night) to reduce my eye pressure since being diagnosed. I also had bilateral laser iridotomies a year ago. My left eye is also affected, but less so.

Lens replacement surgery is now recommended as a treatment for angle-closure glaucoma. I am scheduled for two lens replacement surgeries (one for each eye) in the next couple of weeks. The surgeries will help to keep my eye pressures consistently low to avoid further damage to my eyes, so I don't go totally blind.

Are You at Risk?

Glaucoma is called "the silent thief of sight." You don't know that it's happening until it's too late. You might have risk factors, or you might not. You might have a family history, or you might not. Like me, you might even be a healthcare professional and still not understand what is happening to you. It's a very mysterious and frustrating disease. It involves a lot of time and expense in visits to the ophthalmologist for continued monitoring, testing, exams, and consultations.

Scientists don't exactly know what causes the different types of glaucoma in different people. It could be age, gender, or many things, or it could happen without any warning. Oddly, glaucoma can even be found in people with normal eye pressures. The type of glaucoma I have is most commonly found in people of Asian descent. But I have no Asian heritage in my family tree; my mother is Costa Rican, and my father is of European descent. (My father does have glaucoma— but his optometrist missed his diagnosis, too. At 95 years old, he’s no longer a candidate for lens replacement surgery. He takes three medications, and his eye pressure has remained low.)

Please Get Checked!

I hope that by reading this, YOU will get your eye pressures checked even if you don't have any symptoms – in fact, especially if you don't have any symptoms because it's very likely you won't feel or notice a thing until it's too late. You won't be aware that your optic nerve is being damaged even while it's happening because you can have glaucoma and not feel anything at all.

I recommend being evaluated by an ophthalmologist. Optometrists are great at giving you a prescription for your glasses, but your optometrist may not have the diagnostic skills or the equipment sensitive enough to detect eye pathology. The "puff test" optometrists often use to check eye pressures is notoriously inaccurate, especially if your eye pressures are very high.

If the ophthalmologist finds that your eye pressures are high, they can prescribe eye drops to lower it. If you find out early enough, you may be able to totally prevent any eye damage.

How often do you need to see the ophthalmologist? A straightforward approach is to go in now for an initial evaluation and then follow up according to what your ophthalmologist advises. It might be yearly, it might be every five years. Just go! It doesn't hurt to check.

Awareness is key. Thanks for reading, and please support and share this fundraiser if this information has been helpful. Thank you and be well.