One of the emerging causes of irreversible blindness or glaucoma seems to be self-medication, believe city ophthalmologists.
MUMBAI: Next time you buy an eye-drop without a doctor’s prescription, beware of its consequences. One of the emerging causes of irreversible blindness or glaucoma seems to be self-medication, believe city ophthalmologists.
This World Glaucoma Day, experts warn that, if ignored, more than 12 million Indians may lose their vision to glaucoma by 2010. Doctors say that among others, the leading cause of this irreversible blindness is ignorance and poor diagnosis. Over-the-counter steroid eye-drops can cause damage to the eye even to the extent of losing vision.
In glaucoma, the optic nerve (transmits visual information to the brain) is damaged due to high pressure in the eye.
Since it is painless, there are no prominent symptoms, apart from slight loss of vision. However, eventually the optic nerve is completely ruptured and there is an irreversible loss of vision. Application of eye drops, tablets, lasers and surgical operations can only prevent or slow further damage.
Diabetes and application of steroid eye drops without proper medical supervision can be lethal, said Dr Ronnie George, consultant of glaucoma department, Shankar Nethralaya, Chennai. George added that awareness about it was very low even in metropolitan cities. “Population-based studies suggest that more than 90% of glaucoma cases in the country remain undiagnosed,” said George.
Persons with glaucoma are unaware of it until much of the vision is lost, said Dr Anand Shroff, glaucoma specialist at Shroff Eye Hospital. Youngsters with contact lens-induced and other allergies should be very careful.
Dr S Natarajan, chairman, Aditya Jyot Eye hospital said that people who have glaucoma in their family should get themselves diagnosed annually.
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