Sleep apnea and glaucoma

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I have worn glasses since I was about ten years old. It seems that I have always had some problem with my sight. About five years ago I was diagnosed with a type of glaucoma. Of course I have had sleep apnea for years and years but I didn’t realize at the time that there might be a connection between sleep apnea and glaucoma.


My eye sight has always been poor so it came as no surprise when the eye doctor told me that I had glaucoma. He said that it could easily be corrected by using a laser to open a hole in each eyeball to relieve pressure. That sounds a lot worse than it really is. The procedure took all of 5 minutes and hardly any recovery time. I had to have it checked every six months to make sure the hole hadn’t grown over. Finally when I had my cataract surgery the surgeon was able to correct the problem.

In a previous post I wrote about the connection between sleep apnea and diabetic retinopathy. Now I have read that an alarming number of sleep apnea patients also have glaucoma! I am not sure that my glaucoma was the result of my sleep apnea but I also believe that heredity plays a part because my father had bad eyesight and sleep apnea.

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