Cynthia’s Story

I’m Cynthia Smith. I have been seeing a glaucoma specialist for years because I’m severely myopic. I’ve thought that glaucoma could affect me because, me being so nearsighted, I knew at least by the time I hit my thirties, you know, black woman, over 35, nearsighted–you’re at a high risk for glaucoma.

It starts somewhere. In my case, it was just for simple day-to-day things like looking for something. You know, we all lose our keys, but I can, like, walk past something a couple of times–like my phone, if it’s sitting in a black chair, I will walk right past it and say, “I can’t find my phone.” Something simple like that, if it’s the same color or different things like that. It’s because my vision isn’t as good or isn’t as sharp.

I like to stay active. Yoga is one of my favorite activities. I go to yoga about three, four times a week and I do my stretching in the morning. I like being outside. I like the nature. I like the ocean. I like to watch movies. I like to read. And I have a grandbaby–she’s a year and a half–and just seeing her little smile, that is important to me. I can’t imagine if I couldn’t see her.

I think it’s just important to stay on top of your vision, just like you would anything else–probably even more so than a lot of other things. We prioritize things according to what we like to do. We keep our haircut appointments, our nail appointments, and it’s just as important, if not more important to keep your eye appointments.

More and more people are going to, unfortunately, have this disease; the more that the medical community knows about it, the more that they can at least treat it to maintain it so that more and more people don’t lose their vision. There are some things that we can’t control in life, but I think if we monitor our vision and get treated and stay in touch with our doctors, I think it’s something that can be controlled or maintained. And the sooner you get treated for it, the better.