Every eighth individual in India above the age of 40 is suffering from glaucoma or is at a high risk of developing it, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here said on Wednesday. Glaucoma is a condition that causes damage to the eye's optic nerve and gets worse over time. It's often associated with a build up of pressure inside the eye. Glaucoma tends to be inherited and may not show up until later in life.
Calling it the most common cause of irreversible blindness, doctors said 50 percent of the people in India do not know they have glaucoma as it is generally asymptomatic and regular eye examination is not practised. "It is a progressive eye disease causing irreversible visual loss, usually without warning until relatively advanced. It is important to emphasise that with newer and better medication and safer surgery early treatment can stabilise the glaucoma vision…
