Glaucoma – The sneak thief of sight

You don’t know what you have, until it is almost gone. These words have been a echoing in my mind over the last few days.

They were conveyed to me last week by an anguished patient. Yes! They were talking about the dreaded G word. The sneak thief of sight – GLAUCOMA!{{more}}

This was a case that did not need to go the way it did. Mr H. W. was diagnosed with glaucoma in 1998. He was put on eye drops and asked to follow-up every four months.

Everything went well for about a year or two, until he decided to stop his regular check-ups. As he told me, he figured that if he just kept replenishing his drops at the pharmacy, all should go well. Little did he know that he was gradually losing nerve fibers at the back of the eye.

When I saw him last week, I told him that he had lost over 60% of visual field. He broke down and cried, saying that he had been using his drops. I felt tears coming to my eyes.

I explained that sometimes the drops lose their efficacy, and as such, it was mandatory to come in every four months to check to see if the disease was getting worse. This was not because we wanted to charge him more money, but because the WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION recommended it. It is crucial to periodically check on the nerve damage and the degree of field loss.

Fellow readers, let us make no mistake about. Glaucoma is a deadly disease!

Here are some facts:

1. Glaucoma creeps up on you without any warning [insidious].

2. HIGH eye pressure alone is NO LONGER the only criterion for diagnosing the disease. There are people with NORMAL eye pressure who have glaucoma. There are also people with LOW eye pressure who have glaucoma. Conversely, there are people with HIGH eye pressure who do not have glaucoma.

3. If at first sight you are diagnosed with glaucoma, then the disease is probably advanced

4. One eye test alone is not sufficient to diagnose the disease. Tests such as Gonioscopy, Pachymetry, Visual field Perimetry, Tonometry, extended Indirect Ophthalmoscopy, digital imaging, among others, are crucial in the diagnosis and monitoring of the disease. Most of these tests are performed by Ophthalmologists.

5. Glaucoma is prevalent in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Risk factors include people with a positive family history of glaucoma, people with myopia, people of African origin, people over 60, steroid users, hypertensives and people with a central corneal thickness less than 0.5mm, among others.

Studies have shown that early detection and treatment is the best way to control the disease.

Next week we will discuss this disease in more depth.

Until then

Dr Kenneth Onu is a resident Consultant Ophthalmologist at the Beachmont Eye Institute/Eyes R Us Send questions to: Beachmont@gmail.com
Tel: 784 456-1210