![\"ED](\"http:\/\/blueheronhealthnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Glaucoma_10761835_s-2015.jpg\")
This is not the first line of a joke. <\/p>\nThis is not the first line of a joke. <\/p>\n
As dissimilar as these two conditions seem to be, men suffering ED genuinely are more likely to become blind than men without ED, as discovered by a new study from the University of Colombia.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s not by any small margin. Men with ED are 258% more likely to develop this disease that almost unavoidably leads to blindness.<\/p>\n
The good news is that a simple test can reveal the eye problem years ahead and prevent it from progressing.<\/p>\n
The study was published in the Journal of Glaucoma<\/em>.<\/p>\n Researchers used 167 male patients over the age of 40 who visited ophthalmology clinics in Vancouver. Of these, 61 had glaucoma, and 67 did not.<\/p>\n They gave them a range of questionnaires and vision tests to measure the severity of their glaucoma and ED.<\/p>\n After crunching the numbers, they concluded that men suffering erectile dysfunction were 2.58 times more likely to have glaucoma than men without ED.<\/p>\n Those with the least severe erectile dysfunction also had the least severe glaucoma, and that those with the worst ED also had the worst glaucoma.<\/p>\n Glaucoma is a condition that develops slowly whereby the optic nerve is damaged, compromising the transfer of images from your eye to your brain.<\/p>\n It normally manifests in a loss of your peripheral vision followed by your central vision. Once the vision is lost, it cannot be restored, but it is possible to halt the disease’s progress once you have it.<\/p>\n The scientists did not study the mechanism behind the link, but speculated that changes to blood vessels caused by inflammation could be a causal factor in both conditions.<\/p>\n Because glaucoma develops so gradually, most people who contract it only realize it when it is already too late. A simple eye examination can reveal it easily, so if you have ED, an eye checkup is worth your time, even if your eyesight is okay.<\/p>\n