Turning off the lights and browsing the phone is an invisible driver of glaucoma

■ Correspondent Yang Pu, our reporter Yang Yu

According to statistics, there are more than 80 million glaucoma patients in the world, and at least 5 million glaucoma patients in my country, of which 790,000 are blind. In order to increase the public's awareness of glaucoma and increase publicity and screening efforts for glaucoma, the World Glaucoma Federation and the World Glaucoma Patients Federation jointly initiated the expansion of "World Glaucoma Day (March 6)" to "World Glaucoma Week" in 2011, which is the second week of March every year.

Five "invisible drivers" of glaucoma in the elderly

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According to Lv Jie, director of the ophthalmology department of Nanjing Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine (Nanjing Geriatric Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine), the prevalence of glaucoma is 0.21%~1.64%, which is positively correlated with age. Middle-aged and elderly people should pay special attention to preventing glaucoma and pay attention to the five "invisible drivers."

The structure of the eyeball is "deformed due to aging": the lens thickens and the anterior chamber becomes shallower with age, and the iris and lens squeeze the drainage channel of the aqueous humor, which hinders the flow of liquid like "rusting a water pipe". In addition, with the increase of age, the function of the ciliary muscles of the elderly declines, the ability to regulate the metabolism of aqueous humor weakens, and the intraocular pressure is relatively easy to get out of control.

Genetic reasons: If there is a glaucoma patient in the family, the risk of developing the disease increases by 6 to 9 times.

The "chain reaction" of chronic diseases: Diabetic patients will damage the retinal microvessels due to high blood sugar and other reasons; the retinal arteriosclerosis of hypertensive patients will be aggravated, and a slightly higher intraocular pressure may cause optic neuropathy.

Bad living habits: Some people like to turn off the lights and browse their cell phones. The pupils dilate in the dark, and accumulation of blood at the root of the iris blocks the angle of the chamber, which is like "suddenly turning on the faucet" and triggers an acute attack of glaucoma.

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Emotional "roller coaster": Emotional fluctuations such as anxiety and rage can cause intraocular pressure to soar in a short period of time, just like "inflating and pressurizing" the eyeball.

Lv Jie reminded that although most glaucoma patients are middle-aged and elderly people, it does not mean that glaucoma is an old age disease. The incidence rate of young people is also increasing year by year due to excessive use of eyes. Even if the intraocular pressure is normal, it does not mean it is safe, because the optic nerve of some people has a low tolerance to intraocular pressure, and it needs to be combined with relevant instrument examinations for comprehensive judgment.

Stay away from glaucoma by doing these five things every day

Avoid "acting in the dark": turn on the desk lamp when playing with your phone with the lights off, adjust the screen brightness to night mode, and turn on the night light when getting up to go to the bathroom at night to avoid drastic changes in your pupils.

Do "stress management" for your eyes: close your eyes and move your eyeballs for every hour of using your eyes, or look at green plants 6 meters away for 20 seconds.

Regular "eye examination": check intraocular pressure + fundus photography once a year for those over 40 years old, and once every six months for those with severe myopia.

Healthy diet: Foods rich in vitamin C/E can help reduce the damage of free radicals to blood vessels in the eyes. Reduce high-salt and high-fat diets, which can aggravate microcirculation disorders in the fundus.

Reasonable exercise: Low-intensity exercise, such as walking, Ba Duan Jin, etc., can help reduce intraocular pressure. Avoid strenuous exercise such as handstand/weightlifting that may cause a sudden increase in intraocular pressure.