By 1 2 1 News Reporter
Mohali 26th May:-- As many as 100 Senior Citizens attended a health talk on 'common eye problems in elderly' at Max Super Speciality Hospital (MSSH), Mohali today. Addressing them, Dr Harpreet Kapoor, Sr Consultant, Ophthalmology, MSSH said that glaucoma is the 3rd leading cause of blindness in India, with 12 million people affected by it that accounted for nearly 13% of the country's blindness. Glaucoma could affect any age group, including newborn, infants, children but it was most prevalent in the elderly.
Dr Harpreet Kapoor said that blindness from glaucoma was irreversible and could cause a permanent loss of vision. So early detection was the key to preserve vision in Glaucoma. People at risk include those over 40 years of age, those with Glaucoma in the family and those with diseases like diabetes, hypertension or people using steroid containing preparations over a long duration. Terming it as silent thief of sight, Dr Harpreet Kapoor said that Glaucoma would lead to damage of the nerve fibres which helped us see. It was usually associated with increase in the pressure of the eyes and often did not cause symptoms in the early stages. By the time the person would get any symptoms, majority of the damage was done, which was irreversible.
Talking about the other eyes disorders that could affect the geriatric age group, Dr Kapoor informed that in Cataract the normal transparent lens of the eye become cloudy. As cataract progressed the light rays could not pass through the cloudy lens to reach the retina and as a result the person was unable to see clearly. Cataracts often formed slowly causing no pain or redness in the eye. In the early stages cataract caused increasing glare and haloes around light, difficulty in night driving and sometimes even frequent change in glasses. With advances in technology and availability of state of the art machines, cataract surgery was now a very safe procedure with a high success rate.
No comments:
Post a Comment