Glaucoma is an eye disease that affects more than 3 million Americans. Over 35,000 new cases are diagnosed in the U.S. each year. At least half of those people who have the disease are unaware of it because glaucoma does not have noticeable symptoms. Glaucoma is an eye disease in which an individual's eye pressure is too great for their eye, causing damage to the nerves. A full 1/3 of the patients who have glaucoma have what has been in the past considered normal eye pressure. While there is no known cure for glaucoma, it can be controlled - but only if detected early.

Macular degeneration is one of the leading causes of blindness in industrialized countries.  Due to increasing life expectancy macular degeneration is the subject of increasing research to understand its pathology, improve its diagnosis and develop therapies.

Because of this, Cascadia Eye Care has purchased a state of the art instrument called the Stratus OCT3 that images the retinal nerve fiber and optic nerve (the tissue and structure that glaucoma damages) as well as imaging the separate layers of the macula that are unable to be observed by more traditional methods for diagnosing and following macular degeneration.  Testing for this procedure is conveniently scheduled in our comfortable office. This new instrument allows us to objectively evaluate the nerve fiber layer, optic nerve and macula.   We are among only a handful of eye care professionals that offer this procedure on-site.

The OCT instrument takes an image of the back eye in just seconds.  The entire exam is quick, painless and allows us to detect subtle changes that are difficult to recognize with traditional techniques. The exam is objective, meaning that you are not required to respond in order to have a valid and accurate test result. This is a big improvement over other tests.

Cascadia Eye Care's number one goal is to preserve your eyesight for as long as you live.
The OCT imaging instrument is another advancement that reinforces our mission.