EARLY DETECTION OF GLAUCOMA IS CRUCIAL
This year’s Eye Care Awareness Month (ECAM), taking place from 21 September to 18 October 2024 aims to raise awareness about the importance of eye health, specifically around the prevention and treatment of avoidable blindness.
According to Adele Camarena, founder and owner of Spectacle World, also known as Camarena Porter Optometrist, eye health is of vital importance for one’s well-being. “Seventy-five percent of all cases of blindness is avoidable either through prevention or treatment, which is why it’s so important to get your eyes tested at least once per year. Symptoms of eye conditions can include vision loss, altered eye movements, eye pain, visual field loss, and bulging eye,” she says. “In South Africa, vision loss is one of the primary causes of disability, accounting for roughly 32% of all disabilities*. As an example, glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that progressively damage the optic nerve and is a leading cause of irreversible vision loss worldwide.”
Specialist ophthalmologists, Dr Linett du Toit and Dr Dony Mathew, explain that each eye’s optic nerve contains around 1.2 million nerve fibres at birth. “Over time, some of these nerve fibres are lost, similar to age-related hearing loss. People with glaucoma lose these nerve fibres quicker than normal. When one loses nerve fibres, you lose peripheral vision, so it’s often not detected until later in the disease. Nerve fibres are neural tissue and once it’s lost, it can’t be recovered. The associated loss of vision can thus also not be reversed.”
Screening by an optometrist or ophthalmologist is crucial for early diagnosis, especially for those with a family history of the disease. Dr Du Toit adds that “the only known treatable risk factor is treating the pressure in the eye or intra-ocular pressure (IOP). Treatment is aimed at decreasing the intraocular pressure to slow down the progression of the disease by slowing down the loss of nerve fibres.”
Dr Mathew continues that treatment is individualised depending on the type of glaucoma and the extent of damage to the optic nerve. “The treatment options consist of eye drops, different types of laser therapy, small devices placed into the eye (sometimes at the time of cataract surgery) and also larger drainage devices if a greater decrease in pressure is required. A lot of research is performed to try and determine factors that will prevent progression of the disease, but as always, a healthy lifestyle is recommended which includes not smoking, regular exercise and a balanced diet,” he says.
According to Camarena, your optometrist will refer you to an ophthalmologist for further testing should they suspect glaucoma. “Many people are content with their current vision or unaware that they could be seeing more clearly. Many forms of glaucoma have no warning signs. The effect is so gradual that you may not notice a change in vision until the condition is at an advanced stage. To keep your vision sharp and clear, it’s crucial to make eye exams a regular part of your annual health check-up. Your eyes are just as important as any other part of your body,” Camarena concludes.
