Time to speak about, Glaucoma - “sneak thief of sight",

 

12th March 2011 was a 4th World Glaucoma Day, KBHB Eye Hospital observed Glaucoma Day on 13th March 2011. The global observance was launched on March 6, 2008, through the joint initiative of the World Glaucoma Association (WGA) and the World Glaucoma Patient Association (WGPA) to strengthen the awareness of the public and people at risk of glaucoma on its detection, prevention, and treatment. KBHB Eye Hospital along with Sightsavers under Mumbai Eye Care Campaign observed World Glaucoma Day 2011 by organising Free Eye Check up camp for the Mill workers from Century Mill at Worli in association with local Mandal called Dattu Gawankar Mitra Mandal. The Objective of the event was to create awareness among the people about Glaucoma and to screen the patients for glaucoma and other eye problems and provide services to the needy patinets. Hospital is providing free treatment to those who identified with glaucoma and other eye problems from the camp.

To know more about Glaucoma -  

Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that cause progressive damage of the optic nerve at the point where it leaves the eye to carry visual information to the brain.

If left untreated, most types of glaucoma progress (without warning nor obvious symptoms to the patient) towards gradually worsening visual damage and may lead to blindness. Once incurred, visual damage is mostly irreversible, and this has led to glaucoma being described as the "silent blinding disease" or the "sneak thief of sight".



Normal Vision



Vision of Glaucoma patient



Glaucoma is the second most common cause of blindness worldwide. It is estimated that 4.5 million persons globally are blind due to glaucoma¹ and that this number will rise to 11.2 million by 2020². It is noteworthy that due to the silent progression of the disease - at least in its early stages - up to 50% of affected persons in the developed countries are not even aware of having glaucoma³. This number may rise to 90% in underdeveloped parts of the world.



There are several types of glaucoma. Some may occur as a complication of other visual disorders (the so-called "secondary" glaucomas) but the vast majority is "primary", i.e. they occur without a known cause. It was once believed that the cause of most or all glaucomas was high pressure within the eye (known as intraocular pressure - sometimes abbreviated as IOP). It is now established however, that even people without an abnormally high IOP may suffer from glaucoma. Intraocular pressure is considered therefore today as a "Risk Factor" for glaucoma, together with other factors such as racial ancestry, family history, high myopia and age.

Some forms of glaucoma may occur at birth ("congenital") or during infancy and childhood ("juvenile"); in most cases however, glaucoma appears after the 4^th decade of life, and its frequency increases with age. There is no clearly established difference in glaucoma incidence between men and women.



The most common types of adult-onset glaucoma are Primary Open Angle Glaucoma (POAG) - a form most frequently encountered in patients of Caucasian and African ancestry - and Angle-Closure Glaucoma (ACG), which is the more common in patients of Asian ancestry. Angle-Closure Glaucoma is often chronic, like POAG, but can sometimes be acute, in which case it usually presents as a very painful ocular condition leading to rapid vision loss.



There is no cure for glaucoma as yet, and vision loss is irreversible. However medication or surgery (traditional or laser) can halt or slow-down any further vision loss. Therefore early detection is essential to limiting visual impairment and preventing the progression towards severe visual handicap or blindness. Your eye-care professional can detect glaucoma in its early stages and advise you on the best course of action. (World Glaucoma Week)