Some time ago during my training I spent time with an eye surgeon in Philadelphia who had an odd way of getting his non compliant patients to take their glaucoma medications.  ”Cover your eyes”, he would say, “Now, what do you see?”  ”Nothing” was the usual reply. “Well, that’s what you are going to see if you don’t take your drops!” And he would shove a prescription in their hand and point to the direction of the pharmacy.  Blunt yes - but effective.

The lesson I learned was not to take my eyes for granted.  He got me to realize that even though the human body is an engineering marvel with the ability to regenerate tissue it can’t regenerate new eyeballs.  Like most youth I took my vision and my health for granted.  Until science advances a bit more and it surely will,  we only have one pair of eyes. Damage from glaucoma is normally irreversible, it is also preventable. Glaucoma is one of those silent diseases like hypertension, cancer, heart disease, etc., we don’t know its there until something happens or we see our doctor and get tested. That’s right, the patient doesn’t feel anything, see anything or sense anything different until the disease has significantly advanced. Fortunately, if found early with routine examination, it’s progression can be halted and future deterioration slowed or stopped altogether. But the damage done is rarely if ever reversible.

In addition to your optometrist checking for glaucoma there are many other diseases that may show up during a routine eye exam: diabetes, hypertension, brain tumors, lupus, sarcoidosis, MS, hypercholesterolemia, syphillis, stroke just to mention a few.

How is this possible? The eye has a transparent membrane called the cornea which allows light to pass through to the retina. Because of this ability which is not present anywhere else on the body, we can look directly at the blood vessels and nervous system. How cool is that!  I have to admit looking into my patients eyes is one experience that never gets old.

So the next time you get that call from your eye doctor, remember that there is more to an eye exam than 20/20.