January is the perfect time to raise awareness in your community about the prevalence of glaucoma and the importance of making eye health a priority—particularly while those New Year’s resolutions to take better care of their health are still fresh.  Encourage those at risk to get a comprehensive dilated eye exam, especially African Americans over age 40; people over age 60, especially Mexican Americans; and those with a family history of the disease.

Stress that early detection and treatment is the best way to prevent vision loss from this widespread disease. There are a number of educational resources about glaucoma that you can share with your patients, including:

• Prevent Blindness America’s Glaucoma Learning Center: www.preventblindness.org/glaucoma.
• The Glaucoma Research Foundation: www.glaucoma.org.
• The Take on Glaucoma website: www.takeonglaucoma.com.
• The National Eye Institute: www.nei.nih.gov/health/glaucoma.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vision Health Institute: www.cdc.gov/visionhealth.