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I think that the hardest thing about glaucoma is that you don’t feel any pain, it just slowly, slowly, takes your side vision and by the time you realise it, it’s gone. The eye pressure gradually increases which basically damages your optic nerve and affects your vision and it’s probably one of the most causes of blindness in the world.
Even today 50% of people who have glaucoma do not even know they have it, because they haven’t been diagnosed. So in my case, my grandparents from my mother or fathers side probably had vision impairments, or even glaucoma, but didn’t even know it. You see when you get old, you don’t hear, you don’t see and the assumption is well that’s it, so the diagnosis is rarely conducted. That is something that I have learnt from Glaucoma Australia, specialists and vision experts, and it is good that they are conducting campaigns encouraging everyone to get themselves checked.
When I was diagnosed with glaucoma I'd never even heard of this disease and actually had to be educated a bit it at first. Of course it’s a shock, because like anything which affects your quality of life, it’s a shock to the system; but at the end of the day, it's something you need to deal with. Glaucoma is a deteriorating condition, so whatever you do, operations, eye drops, you just need to manage it as much as you can and take it as it goes.
You can’t just walk away from it so I had to continue with whatever I had left because the one thing that people underestimate is that if you go blind or your vision is impaired by glaucoma, it doesn’t just affect you it affects everybody around you, you must think about them too. I have tried to do some advocacy work with Glaucoma Australia and Guide Dogs to raise awareness as I think this is still one of the biggest things, our community is lacking and can be improved.
On a positive note, people around the world are running some really interesting research, particularly around the optic nerve stem cell, which some people are still a little bit opposed to. But maybe a cure may come from that part of glaucoma research. Fingers crossed, maybe in my lifetime, maybe in the future, who knows?
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Glaucoma is a deteriorating condition, so whatever you do, operations, eye drops, you just need to manage it as much as you can and take it as it goes...Martin
Patricia discovered she inherited glaucoma from her father after developing cataracts. She underwent a successful surgery and is now taking eye drops regularly. She now advises others to get tested early.
Annette was diagnosed with Normal Tension Glaucoma a few years ago, and despite the challenges of managing eye pressure and a pituitary cyst, her proactive approach with treatments and family awareness gives her hope for a stable future.
After retiring from 30 years in the Army, Lawrence discovered substantial vision loss in one eye and some in the other due to elevated eye pressures. Lawrence now encourages his family to get glaucoma checks regularly.