Diabetes is more than just a condition related to blood sugar levels; it has wide-reaching implications on various parts of the body, including the eyes. For those diagnosed with diabetes, understanding the potential impact on vision is essential to ensure optimal eye health.

As our bodies age, new health conditions often arise in our eyes. Dr. Linda Hsu talks about eye care for senior adults, and how some common conditions can be managed or even avoided.

Then, have you ever looked at a cloud or a bagel and suddenly saw the shape of a face? Dr. John Demshar has been so fascinated by this phenomenon that he wrote a book about it! And if you want to hear a story about free eye exams, suspicious border authorities, and the no-fly list, give this episode a listen!

A long-time patient made a comment that it seemed to her that “everyone” has either prediabetes or diabetes. She was not too far off. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 30.3 million Americans or 9.4% of the US population have diabetes; 23.1 million people have diagnosed diabetes and 7.2 million people have undiagnosed diabetes. The prediabetes statistic is even more staggering…84.1 million or about 1 out of 3 adults in the United States have prediabetes and 90% of them do not know they have it.

Glaucoma is generally thought of as a disease whereby the pressure of the fluid inside your eye rises to the point of causing damage to your Optic Nerve. Inside your eye, there is always a fluid being produced to bathe the eye tissue with new nutrients. Then this fluid cycles out and new fluid is secreted back into the eye chamber to replace it.

Glaucoma is a disease where a person slowly loses their peripheral due to an increased pressure within the eye that damages the optic nerve. In the early days of glaucoma detection doctwere mainly concerned about the level of intra-ocular pressure (pressure within the eye). If it was high you had glaucoma-simple as that. We also looked at the appearance of the nerve and tested the level of their peripheral vision by having them stare at a large blank area of black cloth and brought in a white marker on a stick to see when they first noticed it. Those days are all but forgotten now. Today’s diagnoses of glaucoma require sophisticated equipment since our understanding of the disease has evolved. We now know that glaucoma is a caused when the delicate balance between a person’s intraocular pressure and their unique tolerance for these changes are not in harmony. In fact, roughly 5%...

January is National Glaucoma Awareness Month. Glaucoma is a disease where the pressure in the eye rises and slowly kills off the optic nerve and leads to blindness. Here are just a few facts about Glaucoma:

• It is estimated that over 2.2 million Americans have glaucoma but only half of those know they have it.
• In the U.S., more than 120,000 are blind from glaucoma, accounting for 9% to 12% of all cases of blindness.
• Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness in the world, according to the World Health Organization.
• After cataracts, glaucoma is the leading cause of blindness among African Americans.
• Blindness from glaucoma is 6 to 8 times more common in African Americans than Caucasians.
• African Americans are 15 times more likely to be visually impaired from glaucoma than Caucasians.
• The most common form, open-angle glaucoma, accounts for 19% of all blindness among African Americans compared to 6% in Caucasians.
• Other high-risk groups include: people over 60, family members of those already diagnosed, diabetics, and people who are severely nearsighted.
• Estimates put the total number of suspected cases of glaucoma at over 60 million worldwide.