11-27-2024 Primetime Living - Flipbook - Page 11
A Special Advertising Section of Baltimore Sun Media Group | Wednesday, November 27, 2024 11
generally treated with surgery.
Control your ABCs: A1C, blood pressure, and cholesterol. It is also recommended you have a dilated eye exam
once a year.
Cataracts
Every ophthalmologist says the same
thing: Like gray hair and wrinkles, everyone gets cataracts. It’s pretty accurate.
Dr. Osamah Saeedi, M.D., M.S., glaucoma division chief and director of clinical research, department of ophthalmology and visual sciences at the University
of Maryland School of Medicine, spoke
about cataracts and glaucoma.
“By the age of 80, 50 percent of our
population will have cataracts that interfere with activities of daily life and would
benefit from removal. A cataract is when
the lens, a disk about the size of an M&M
in your eye, becomes cloudy. Most of
the time, this is related to aging. You
may notice that colors aren’t as bright as
they used to be, or your night vision gets
worse, and you’re bothered by the glare
from oncoming headlights when driving.
“These cataracts are treated with surgery that inserts a replacement lens in
your eye. Newer options for the type of
lens placed in the eye include multifocal intraocular lenses (IOL), which correct for both near and distance vision,
reducing the need for reading glasses.
If you’ve ever worn multifocal contact
lenses, these are similar. Ideally, after
surgery, the patient will not need to wear
glasses.”
Glaucoma
Saeedi describes glaucoma as a
“silent thief of sight.” It’s more common
after the age of 55 and affects a larger
percentage of African Americans, for
whom the onset can also be at an earlier
age. Latino populations also have a higher incidence relative to the general population. And if anyone in your immediate
family has it, you should be checked.
The earlier it is treated, the better off you
are because that stops the damage and
protects your vision. Untreated, it can
cause blindness.
“Glaucoma damages your optic nerve,
the cable connection to your brain, which
is how you see. One of the first signs of
glaucoma is when it takes away your
peripheral vision. You can also develop
blind spots. And once your optic nerve is
damaged, it cannot be regenerated with
current technology. The most common
form is called open-angle glaucoma, and
it can develop first in one or both eyes,”
Saeedi says.
“Glaucoma can occur at both high
pressures and normal eye pressures but
is more common with higher eye pressures. As an analogy, each eye has a
spigot and a drain. Normally, fluid enters
and exits the eye at a slow rate, keeping
Aging eyes,
continued on page 18
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