For, doctors at PGI today said that as high as 10 percent of the total glaucoma cases coming to the hospital’s OPD are “avoidable” where the ailment has been set in due to wrong use of steroid-based eye drops.

What is more worrisome is the fact that though glaucoma is an eye disease generally linked with aging, the wrong use of steroid-based medicines is affecting the younger generation.

Speaking on World Glaucoma Day at the Advanced Eye Centre in PGI, Dr S S Pandav said that PGI receives 80-90 new cases of glaucoma every week.

“Around 10 percent of the cases are generally those who have either used wrong eye drops or ointments. This is certainly avoidable if expert advice is followed while taking any medicine and picking medicines without prescription from the counter should be avoided,” warned the doctor.

Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that causes progressive damage to the optic nerve which is responsible for conveying images to the brain.

Majority of glaucoma patients show no symptoms until the disease reaches an advanced stage. If left undetected and untreated, it can lead to permanent blindness due to damage to the optic nerve.

“The disease generally does not have any symptoms so we strongly recommend regular screening of patients who are using spectacles. We still do not have any cure for the disease but with the help of latest laser treatments, surgical techniques and medicines, we can control it. The earlier a patient comes to us, the better it is,” said Dr Pandav.

Know Glaucoma
Glaucoma, which is also referred to as ‘Kala Motia’ in the local language, is one of the most common cause of irreversible blindness. According to World Health Organisation estimates, about 314 million people around the world have impaired vision, either due to eye diseases or the need for glasses (uncorrected refractive errors). Of these, 45 million people are blind. Over 82% of all blind individuals are 50 years of age or above and more than 90% of the world’s visually-impaired population live in developing countries like India. Five causes of blindness are cataract, refractive errors, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.