An Awareness Program: World Glaucoma Day - March 12, at The Eye Foundation, Coimbatore, India

GLAUCOMA - May steal your vision

A peep into the glaucoma incidence in our country reveals statistics of 3% to 5% of Indians at risk of glaucoma. The alarming equation is that over 90% of them are yet to be diagnosed. Glaucoma is silently steals vision with irreversible loss, if undetected and untreated. This raises the alarm signals to evolve strategic protocols, adopt screening programs to detect the disease at its early onset. It demands an increased awareness to be created to educate the public encouraging them to undergo routine and complete eye evaluation with stress on glaucoma detection.
“Approximately, 12 million Indians between 2% - 5% of the population, above the age of 40 years are likely to be inflicted with this disease entity by 2010. Glaucoma now stands as a second leading cause of preventable blindness and early detection plays a key role.
Glaucoma, most simplistically understood, leads to gradual, painless loss of vision with raised eye pressure being the triggering factor. This symptomless trend of the disease if undetected could lead to progression of this condition. Hence the progressive stress on regular thorough eye examination more after the age of 40 years becomes a mandatory issue. Associated risk factors are diabetes, high myopia, injury, inflammations, steroid intake and associated congenital disorders” says Dr.D.Ramamurthy, Chairman of The Eye Foundation.
World Glaucoma Day was conceptualized to bring about a widespread dissemination of information, educate people about this condition, screen many more of them and prevent a manageable catastrophe.
When quizzed about the World Glaucoma Day, Dr.Chitra Ramamurthy, Medical Director of The Eye Foundation stated “We, at The Eye Foundation on this momentous day, 12 March 2009 have reached out to the glaucoma population at our hospital base and beyond to create a increased awareness programme, more intensive than what is already ongoing and contribute to early detection if not eradication of this killer eye disease.
Glaucoma with its investigative and diagnostic approach has a strategic niche at our hospital. All patients, as a routine are screened for glaucoma, irrespective of their complaint. Vision screening, intraocular pressure evaluation, gonioscopy to evaluate the drainage areas specific to glaucoma, automated perimetry to analyze the visual field defects, imaging modalities like OCT to further once assessment of the retinal nerves fiber status, stereoscopic picture of the optic nerve all are intricately enmeshed to arrive at a complete, wholesome diagnosis of glaucoma, stage the disease and individualize treatment strategies with topical antiglaucoma drops or a surgical intervention, when the situation demands.
The disease by its natural course is slow and progressive and demands frequent follow ups. We have a continued educative approach with which we guide our patients to a longer lasting quality of life”.
Let us all join hands to realize the significance of this World Glaucoma Day at The Eye Foundation.