Glaucoma has been known as the silent thief of vision. Millions of people worldwide are suffering with Glaucoma. The problem is that when the patient realizes about his loss of vision, by that time damage has already occurred and it cannot be reversed, though on Glaucoma detection further loss of vision can be prevented. The key here is early detection of Glaucoma. Thus it is advisable that everybody above the age of 40 years should get a routine eye checkup. During a routine eye checkup in our hospital we check intraocular pressure by non contact tonometry for all patients and retinal camera screening is also done for all. If there is a suspicion of Glaucoma after the doctor’s evaluation, the same can be confirmed by a comprehensive glaucoma workup that includes OCT scan for evaluating Retinal nerve fiber layer and automated perimetry for assessing functional visual field loss.
If the Glaucoma is confirmed, the patient is seen by a Glaucoma specialist who decides the target intraocular pressure and prescribes medicines for treatment. Most of the times these days, best Glaucoma treatment is managed medically with eye drops, but in some cases where these medicinal drops fail to achieve the desired target intraocular pressure, the surgical option of Trabeculectomy is available. OCT and Automated perimetry tests are then done 6 monthly or yearly to see if there is any progression of Glaucoma.
Risk Factors For Glaucoma
- Hypertension
- Diabetes
- Myopia
- Family history of Glaucoma
- Advancing age
- Elevated intra-ocular pressure
Once diagnosed with Glaucoma, the patient is seen by our Glaucoma specialist, Dr. Rajiv Jain regularly. He had worked as Assistant Professor at PGIMER, Chandigarh and has been actively involved in patient care and glaucoma research. The treatment of Glaucoma surgery is essentially aimed at controlling the elevated intra-ocular pressure. Pannu eye hospital is the best Glaucoma Hospital in Ropar.