Christie Brinkley reveals she had emergency eye surgery

Bridgehampton supermodel Christie Brinkley says she recently had emergency eye surgery to correct a sudden onset of glaucoma.

"[I] want you to read this, so you will always be able to!" Brinkley, 67, wrote on Instagram Wednesday, using an eye emoji in place of the word "I."

Posting a photo of herself with her chin resting on what appears to be a tonometer, a piece of equipment that measures eye pressure to test for glaucoma, she explained, "I just discovered that I have something called Acute Angle Closure. I only found out because I included an eye exam as part of my yearly physical check up and my brilliant ophthalmologist spotted this problem."

Acute angle-closure glaucoma, which occurs suddenly as opposed to the gradual chronic angle-closure glaucoma, is one of several types of glaucoma, a set of eye disorders damaging the optic nerve. Also known as closed-angle glaucoma, it is characterized by a bulging iris that dams up normally circulating eye fluid, thus increasing eye pressure, according to the Mayo Clinic. It is considered an ocular emergency that could eventually result in blindness.

"They can fix it," Brinkley wrote, "by brace yourselves, drilling a hole thru your eye!" She was referring to a procedure known as an iridectomy. Done either surgically or via laser, it opens a passageway for the blocked fluid.

"It's not as gruesome as it sounds," Brinkley said. "In fact I just had it done in this photo, piece of cake. But if left untreated [the glaucoma] could have resulted in vision loss … So I'm very grateful!"

She added, "Thank you Dr. Coles!" without giving a first name but evidently referring to Upper East Side ophthalmologist Dr. Nancy Coles. "And friends keep your eye on your precious eyes! ... Get them checked!"

Among the well-wishers commenting on the Instagram post were fellow veteran supermodel Patti Hansen, wife of Rolling Stones rocker Keith Richards, who posted an emoji indicating surprise and concern, plus the separate comment "Soooo scary, glad your [sic] OK."

"I KNOW!" responded Brinkley to the first comment.