Dr. Armstrong Helps “Legally Blind” Blacksburg, VA Patient to See

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Armstrong specializes in “Low Vision” and examines patients in our Hollymead Town Center office once a month.  If you or one of your loved ones has severely limited vision due to macular dgeneration, glaucoma, diabetes, or other visually handicapping conditions, schedule a Low Vision Evaluation with Dr. Armstrong.  He can be reached toll-free at (866) 803-2030.

Watch the News Report on Dr. Armstrong Here

January is National Glaucoma Awareness Month

Glaucoma. Just the word incites fear of the unknown in most people. A 2002 Prevent Blindness America survey revealed that the top 3 health concerns people worried about were cancer, heart disease, and glaucoma.

The good news is that early detection and proper treatment can spare the eyesight of most people with glaucoma. Glaucoma is a group of diseases that gradually cause irreversible vision loss from optic nerve damage if left untreated. The second most common cause of blindness worldwide is glaucoma, according to the World Health Organization. Cataracts are the leading cause of worldwide blindness. Nearly two million Americans are known to have glaucoma. It is estimated that another two million have glaucoma and don’t yet know it, putting the total number of glaucoma cases in the United States closer to four million. 10% of patients considered “legally blind” in the United States are a result of glaucoma. It is not a hopeless disease though, so make sure you are receiving annual vision and ocular health examinations by your eye doctor!

Glaucoma is nicknamed “the sneak thief of sight” because the vision loss it steals is gradual and typically painless. Unchecked, these “quiet” attributes allow glaucoma to slowly decrease vision without detection by the individual until the loss is severe. Diagnosis of glaucoma normally occurs during a comprehensive ocular health examination, rather than by a patient’s vision complaints. Patients rarely schedule appointments with an eye doctor because their symptoms make them suspect they have glaucoma. Instead, glaucoma is diagnosed during an annual check-up visit, or the patient has come in with other complaints, whereupon glaucoma is discovered because the doctors recognize the glaucomatous eye damage.

While glaucoma is not a “curable” disease, it is a manageable one. Under the care of your eye doctor, vision loss from glaucoma can be slowed or completely halted.

Copyright 2011 Dr. Joe DiGirolamo