Glaucoma Health Message at Fresh Therapeutics

There are so many conditions that we need to be alert to as we chat with our patients about their health.

Just a simple “How are you feeling today” can identify someone who is struggling with depression or thoughts of ending their life. Is anyone in your family being treated for glaucoma? can be the trigger to get a person to have an eye check for glaucoma a highly preventable disease.

This is why we have decided at Fresh to have a weekly health message that our staff will ask of our customers in an effort to discuss some preventable condition.

Last month we featured Glaucoma with the following questions:

Do you have family history of glaucoma?

First degree relatives (parents, siblings, children) are at greater risk – having an almost 1 in 4 chance of developing glaucoma in their own lifetime. The risk increases to 56% if the relative has advanced glaucoma.

	Are you of Asian or African descent?
	Do you have high eye pressure? (your optometrist can check)
	Do you have myopia? (near sightedness)
	Do you experience migraines?
	Have you been on a prolonged course of cortisone or prednisone medicine?
	Have you had an eye operation or eye injury?
	Do you have a history of high or low blood pressure?

If our patients answered yes to any of these questions we encouraged them to see their optometrist as they would be more likely than those answering no to develop glaucoma. Left untreated glaucoma can lead to irreversible blindness.

For our patients that have already been diagnosed with glaucoma we ask:

	Have you told your family members you have glaucoma? Encourage first degree family members to have eye health check from the age of 35
	How do you remember to use your drops every day? Non-adherence to the glaucoma eye drops can lead to blindness
	How often do you have your eyes checked – regular check are necessary to monitor progress of the disease and prevent blindness
	Has your ophthalmologist discussed Vitamin B3? Recent studies at the University of Sydney have shown that Niacinamide (Vitamin B3) may prevent blindness.

You can also go to the Glaucoma Australia web-site where there is a Risk Calculator and more information about Glaucoma