Patience key to glaucoma treatment, says expert

Tribune News Service

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Shimla, March 1

Patience is the key to the treatment of glaucoma in which the optic nerve connecting the eye with the brain is damaged due to pressure. This was stated by Dr SS Pandav from the Advance Eye Centre, PGIMER, at a workshop at the IGMC here today.

While interacting with patients suffering from glaucoma, he said regular eye check-ups after the age of 45 was the solution as in a majority of the cases, patients did not feel that he was affected by the disease and once the vision was lost, it could not be restored.

He termed the disease as a silent thief of sight in which the field of vision reduces and leads to tunnel vision.

The disease is prevalent in 3 per cent population at the age of 45, while one out of 10 persons suffers from glaucoma at the age of 80 years.

The treatment to prevent the loss of vision among these patients is available, but it is a long process.

Glaucoma specialist Dr Ujwala Chauhan, who was instrumental in organising the workshop, said it was the first meeting in Himachal on this topic. World Glaucoma Week is celebrated from March 8 onwards and “we attempt to allay the fears and doubts of patients through this interactive session and make them our messengers in creating awareness among the masses,” she added.

She said there were as many as 1.2 million persons suffering from glaucoma in the country as per a medical survey, but the exact number would be quite high as the level of awareness about the disease was low and the patients were ignorant about their problem. The patients were informed about the treatments, including eye drops, tablets, laser surgery and operations available to control glaucoma and its side-effects.