Today, Tuesday March 12, the International Glaucoma Day is celebrated and in HLA San Carlos they want to make us aware of their early detection, as well as to give us more information about this disease that affects the 2% of the older population of 40 years and the 14% among older people of 60.
Glaucoma is a degenerative eye disease that affects a million people in Spain, of which 500.000 are unaware that they suffer from it. It is an asymptomatic disease that produces an injury to the optic nerve that the patient does not notice until very advanced stages. For this reason, glaucoma is one of the main causes of irreversible blindness when it is not controlled with adequate treatment.
Glaucoma is an ophthalmological disease that has no cure, but treatment. "Several studies have shown that the treatment of glaucoma, whether medical or surgical, stops its evolution and manages to maintain the visual field of patients, compared to those who are not treated, which will inevitably end in blindness in terminal stages"says Dr. Patricia Devesa, Ophthalmologist at Oftalvist-HLA Hospital San Carlos Office Denia.
The specialists insist on the prevention and the annual realization of a complete ophthalmological examination. In the opinion of the experts, it is not enough to control the ocular tension to know if the patient suffers from this pathology, but other tests are necessary to analyze the visual field, as well as the study of the loss of nerve fibers at the level of the head of the optic nerve, by performing an optical coherence tomography (OCT).
Other risk factors
Glaucoma can be associated with increased intraocular pressure. According to Dr. Gabriel Scalerandi, specialist in Ophthalmology at HLA Dianense Hospital, "this rise is usually due to an increase in resistance to the exit of aqueous humor by the conventional way, that is, to an imbalance between the production and exit of aqueous humor, whose function is to give nutrition and consistency to eye structures" Although there are other factors, the level of intraocular pressure is the only one that can be controlled with drugs or surgery.
Age is also considered one of the demographic risk factors in this type of chronic pathology, as well as the genetic component, since in a high percentage the children of glaucomatous parents can inherit the disease. In addition, diabetes, nearsightedness and farsightedness, prolonged treatment with corticosteroids, or exposure to the sun, increase the chance of glaucoma. Finally, certain heart diseases and tobacco have also been identified as risk factors.
Latest advances
Screening campaigns, together with increasingly reliable diagnostic tests that detect incipient damage, allow an increasingly early diagnosis.
At present, the Ophthalmology Units of the HLA - Oftalvist Group have hypotensive treatments, as well as therapies with certain lasers, thanks to which only 25% of patients require surgical treatment because control with topical medications is not possible. Glaucoma treatment is performed with less and less invasive surgeries with fewer complications, known as MIGS (Minimally Invasive Glaucoma Surgery). These techniques are showing good blood pressure controls and less impact on the quality of life of patients, even a better response in the evolution of the disease.
