Glaucoma Interviews: Due Tuesday, May 22 nd

Glaucma Interviews: Due Tuesday, May 22 nd 1) Read the glaucma article well! It will explain what it is, plus tell yu sme symptms and risk factrs. Yu may want t use a highlighter r pen t mark imprtant pints frm the article s yu can remember and refer t them easier! Please d ask Ms Weiher fr clarificatin r help, if needed! 2) Interview 3 adults (18 r lder) t try t determine if they have any f the risk factrs r symptms f glaucma. YOU are t d the writing. Try t TEACH the adults smething abut glaucma and ur eyes! The infrmatin we give the adults might encurage sme f them t make an appintment with an eye dctr, r help them knw hw t take better care f their eyes! (I d knw that sme f the peple yu interview may be eye dctrs r already knw a lt abut eyes. N prblem! Try t dazzle them with YOUR knwledge f the disease! ) Remember: Phne interviews wrk, t, and yu d NOT have t nly use family members! 3) Using the back page f yur interview packet, try t determine wh has the HIGHEST risk and wh has the LOWEST risk f getting glaucma. We are nt predicting wh WILL get it, nr are we pretending t be eye dctrs and DIAGNOSING anyne. We are just seeing wh might have the greatest chance f getting it. Answer all questins and be sure t EXPLAIN yur answers. Nte: Yu may find that sme peple get cataracts and glaucma mixed up. We will study cataracts mre this year, but, t keep it simple, cataracts are when the lens in the eye becmes cludy. (Yu may have seen an ld dg with cludy, white eyes; the cludiness is caused by cataracts!) Cataracts are actually the #1 cause f blindness, but we are fcusing n glaucma, the #2 cause f blindness, and are trying t educate peple abut this eye disease. Als, if the peple yu are interviewing d nt want t answer sme f the questins, NO PROBLEM! Fr instance, sme peple are sensitive abut thers knwing their age. D nt wrry abut this, and just make a nte that they preferred t nt answer the questin. We d nt want t invade anyne s privacy; we just want t share imprtant health knwledge with thers! Glaucma Mst f us have thught abut hw difficult daily life wuld be if we were blind, s we re careful t prtect ur eyes. Yet fr a millin Americans, there is a sneak thief at wrk, slwly and silently stealing their visin. The thief is s clever that the victims dn t even knw their eyesight is in danger.

The thief is a disease called glaucma, a painless afflictin that is the secnd leading cause f blindness in the United States. Glaucma is a disease f the plumbing system f the eye, a system that mst peple dn t even knw they have. A nrmal eye is filled with a fluid, called aqueus humr, that cnstantly flws thrugh the pupil, (the dark, pening in the eye that lets in light) and ver the iris (the clred ring f muscle that regulates hw much light is let int the eye.) The fluid, prduced inside the eye by the ciliary bdy (the muscle that fcuses the lens) nurishes the crnea (the clear frnt lens f the eye) as it flws ut f the eye thrugh a meshwrk (like a screen) f tiny drainage penings at the base (bttm) f the iris (where it jins the utside edge f the crnea.) There are several types f glaucma, but the mst cmmn kind (pen-angle glaucma) ccurs when the drainage penings slwly becme blcked ver many years. Since there are n pain-sensing nerves in the area, the increasing pressure f the fluid is painless. Even when the drainage penings are almst cmpletely blcked, the ciliary tissues keep prducing fluid. As a result, pressure frm the backed-up fluid starts building inside the eye. This increased pressure pushes n the ptic nerve at the back f the eye, distrting, cmpressing (squishing) and, ver time, destrying it, nce nerve cell at a time, until blind spts frm. The lss is usually slw, with ever-increasing dimming f visin creeping in frm the side, as if yu were lking thrugh a narrwing tunnel r the rm lights were dimming. Many peple dn t ntice this lss in their peripheral visin, even when 50% f the nerves are destryed. Usually, n pain is assciated with increased eye pressure. When they g t the eye dctr and discver they have glaucma, further lss f visin can be prevented, but nthing can be dne t restre the eyesight already lst. Glaucma can t be cured, but dctrs can prevent further damage by using drugs in the frm f eye drps r pills t lwer the pressure in the eye. If drugs dn t wrk, dctrs can use laser surgery t pen the drainage system and allw the fluid t pass ut f the eye. If that fails, micrsurgery is used t create new tubes t allw the fluid t drain ut. The best way t deal with the disease f glaucma, hwever, is t detect it early, befre much visin is lst. Glaucma Facts and Statistics: Glaucma can cause blindness if it is left untreated. Unfrtunately, apprximately 10% f peple with glaucma wh receive prper treatment still experience lss f visin. It is estimated that ver 4 millin Americans have glaucma but nly half f thse knw they have it. Apprximately 120,000 are blind frm glaucma, accunting fr 9% t 12% f all cases f blindness in the U.S. Glaucma is the secnd leading cause f blindness in the wrld.. Everyne is at risk fr glaucma. Hwever, certain grups are at higher risk than thers. Risk Factrs: Elevated internal eye pressure (intracular pressure): If yur intracular pressure is higher than nrmal, yu're at increased risk f develping glaucma, thugh nt everyne with elevated intracular pressure develps the disease. Yur eye dctr has several tests that wuld be dne at yur eye appintment t test fr this. The tests are all painless.

Ethnic backgrund: African-Americans are five times mre likely t get glaucma than are Caucasians, and they're much mre likely t experience permanent blindness as a result. Als, glaucma ften ccurs earlier in life in African- Americans n average, abut 10 years earlier than in ther ethnic ppulatins. Hispanic-Americans and Asian- Americans als face an increased risk. Age: Everyne lder than 60 is at increased risk f glaucma. Fr certain ppulatin grups such as African-Americans, hwever, the risk is much higher and ccurs at a yunger age than that f the average ppulatin. Family histry f glaucma: If members f yur immediate family have glaucma, yu are at a much higher risk than the rest f the ppulatin. There is a 20% chance f develping glaucma f a parent had it, and 50% chance if a sibling has it. Family histry increases risk f glaucma 4 t 9 times! Medical cnditins: Diabetes, high bld pressure, and hypthyridism increase yur risk f develping glaucma. High bld pressure is a risk factr fr glaucma because hypertensin can increase intracular eye pressure. This increased internal eye pressure can lead t glaucma. Having sleep apnea can als be a risk factr since it can cause a rise in bld pressure. Other eye cnditins: Severe eye injuries can result in increased eye pressure. Injuries that bruise the eye r injuries that penetrate (pke int) the eye can damage the eye s drainage system, leading t glaucma. This can happen immediately after the injury r years later. Injury can als dislcate the lens, clsing ff the drainage system. The mst cmmn cause is sprts-related injuries such as baseball r bxing. Certain types f eye surgery als may trigger secndary glaucma. Nearsightedness: Being nearsighted (mypia), which generally means that bjects in the distance lk fuzzy withut glasses r cntacts, increases the risk f develping glaucma. Prlnged crticsterid use. Using crticsterids fr prlnged perids f time appears t put yu at risk f getting secndary glaucma. This is especially true if yu use crticsterids eye drps r use VERY high dses f inhaled sterids fr many years. Pssible Symptms f Glaucma: lsing peripheral visin experiencing frequent mrning headaches ften having blurry visin seeing rainbw-clred hals arund lights at night experiencing pain arund the eyes after watching tv r leaving a dark theater Peple at high risk fr glaucma shuld get a cmplete eye exam, including eye dilatin, every ne r tw years. (Eye dilatin means that the eye dctr will put eye drps in yur eye t make the pupil pen wide. The eye dctr will use a lens t lk inside yur eye at, fr instance, yur retina.) Name: Age: Ethnic backgrund: Name Date Hur

What d yu knw abut glaucma? (Student: Explain it if they dn t knw r need mre infrmatin! It is YOUR JOB t help educate thers!) Des, r did, anyne in yur family have glaucma If yes, wh? Have yu needed t take large dses f sterids fr lng perids f time? Have yu had an eye injury? Have yu ever been tld that yu have high internal eye pressure (intracular pressure)? Are yu near-sighted? D yu have diabetes? D yu have high bld pressure? D yu have frequent mrning headaches? D yu have hypthyridism? D yu ften have blurry visin? D yu see rainbw-clred hals arund lights at night? Have yu nticed a lss in yur peripheral visin? When was the last time yu had an eye exam? Did they d a glaucma test at yur last eye exam? What did yu learn new abut glaucma frm this interview? Name: Age: Ethnic backgrund:

2) Which f the three adults that yu interviewed may have the lwest risk fr glaucma? Why? Explain yur answer. 3) What d YOU plan t d t make sure that glaucma never steals yur sight? (Remember: Just because a persn is at a higher risk fr develping glaucma, this des nt mean they will necessarily get glaucma. Dn t wrry! They just need t make sure they see an eye dctr regularly. Having knwledge helps keep yu safe!)