Don’t let this silent thief steal your eyesight With World Glaucoma Day falling on Mar 12, there’s never been a better time to highlight the dangers
of this condition, one of the world’s leading causes of blindness. The team from Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC) Glaucoma Service tells us more. What is glaucoma?
Glaucoma is an eye condition characterised by a progressive loss of vision due to damage to the optic nerve, which carries visual information from the eye to the brain. The two most common types of glaucoma are open-angle glaucoma and closed-angle glaucoma. Why is awareness of glaucoma important?
Glaucoma accounts for 5.1 million of the estimated 38 million blind in the world, and is also the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. 
With the rapid growth of the world’s elderly population, the number of glaucoma sufferers will also rise, causing increased healthcare costs and creating an economic burden. It is estimated that glaucoma will be the most common cause of irreversible blindness this century, with almost 70 million cases worldwide. In Singapore, approximately 3 per cent of people over the age of 50 have glaucoma. This percentage increases with age and reaches almost 10 per cent for those over the age of 70. Closed-angle glaucoma accounts for about half this figure. Because it is largely symptom-free, more than 90 per cent of people with glaucoma are unaware of it at the time of diagnosis, hence the condition’s other name – “silent thief of sight”. There is no cure, but blindness is preventable if glaucoma is diagnosed and treated early. Regular eye tests are recommended, as they can detect the onset of the disease. What are the risk factors for glaucoma? - Advancing age
- Gender (Closed-angle glaucoma is more common in females.)
- Race (Closed-angle glaucoma is more common in Chinese.)
- Family history of glaucoma
- Refractive error (Being short-sighted increases the risk of developing open-angle glaucoma, while longsightedness adds to the risk of closed angle glaucoma.)
Can glaucoma be prevented?
Open-angle glaucoma cannot be prevented. However, if diagnosed and treatedearly enough, it is possible to prevent visual damage and blindness. Closed-angle glaucoma, on the other hand, is preventable. In the early stages of the disease, (when the eye has a closed angle but has not yet developed glaucoma), performing a laser procedure called an iridotomy can potentially help to prevent blindness. Current research
Several research projects are underway at the Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI) and SNEC, investigating early disease detection, genetic risk factors, new treatments, drug efficacy and new drug delivery systems for treating glaucoma. |