Question:
My Mum was diagnosed with glaucoma 7 years ago and ever since she's had to take eye drops at night. Only recently has the glaucoma started getting worse and she was sent to a glaucoma specialist a few months ago. They felt that it was progressing so they decided to up her eye drop dose to three a day instead of one at night. However, today the specialist rang my Mum with more test results, and unfortunately she was told she can't drive. She's obviously terrified and she's extremely upset that she'll never be able to drive again. It's been a tough day. However now she's starting to worry that it's going to continue to get worse and she'll lose her sight. Obviously this is a worry for all of us as she's been taking her eyedrops every night and it's still gotten worse. The specialist told her that she missed four lights in the middle if the test they performed, so she has blind spots while looking slightly upwards. Although she can't tell at all and says she see's no different than she did a year ago.
The questions we have, that hopefully you'll be able to answer are the following:
- If the glaucoma is getting worse even though she's been using eye drops, is it going to keep getting worse and will she eventually need surgery perhaps?
- Will the upped dose of eyedrops mean it'll take longer for the glaucoma to get worse?
- Will she ever get to a stage where she might lose her sight? Even with the treatment.
- She doesn't see anything abnormal usually, only sometimes in the dark and when she wakes up. Is this likely to get worse?
Of course we'll know all this when we go to the specialist but that won't be untill June 1st so she'd like to know a little bit more now. She just turned 59 last month, and has some slight thyroid issues but is otherwise in perfect health. The glaucoma effects both eyes, and the specialist said she had a pressure level of 20-22 instead of the normal 14. Hoepfully any of you who have or know someone with glaucoma can shed some insight.
Thanks,
Answer:
I'm no expert on glaucoma but it's my understanding that the central vision is the last to be affected. You said the visual field test revealed central blind spots. I'm wondering if something else is at work here--like macular degeneration.
