【World Glaucoma Week】Beware of glaucoma "stealing" your vision

March 10th-16th is the 17th World Glaucoma Week. This year's theme is "Jointly manage chronic glaucoma and keep the light forever."

Glaucoma is also known as the "thief of vision". It has no obvious symptoms in the early stage and is easily ignored. It is often not discovered until the disease develops to a certain extent. If not treated in time, it will cause irreversible damage to vision and even lead to blindness in severe cases. In recent years, with the popularization of electronic products, computers and mobile phones are indispensable in our lives, making glaucoma no longer a "patent" of the elderly. More and more young people are also beginning to suffer from this eye disease.

Ms. Zhang, who is in her 40s, likes to watch short videos very much. She can always watch them for a long time when she turns off the lights and lies in bed at night. Not long ago, she found that her left eye was repeatedly red and swollen, and slightly painful, with myopia of more than 600 degrees. She thought it was inflammation due to excessive use of the eyes, but after self-medication, the symptoms did not improve. So she rushed to the ophthalmology department of the hospital for treatment. After detailed inquiries, Director Zhang Hengli of the Glaucoma and Cataract Group judged that she might have induced glaucoma by turning off the lights and playing with her mobile phone. After professional examination, Ms. Zhang was diagnosed with chronic angle-closure glaucoma. Because Ms. Zhang saw a doctor in time and was still in the early stage of glaucoma, receiving targeted drug treatment can control the progression of the disease and will not cause too much impact on vision. Ms. Zhang, who was terrified, immediately took drug treatment and actively corrected her bad eye habits to avoid irreversible vision damage.

Glaucoma is an eye disease in which intraocular pressure increases intermittently or continuously, thus threatening the optic nerve and visual function. Its main features are characteristic optic nerve damage and progressive visual field loss (visual field loss means that the range of vision of the eye becomes smaller). It is usually related to pathological increase in intraocular pressure. Pathological increase in intraocular pressure will compress the optic nerve and cause damage to the retinal ganglion cells in the eyeball, leading to optic nerve atrophy and visual field loss. If the patient does not receive timely treatment, permanent blindness may eventually occur and cannot be recovered.

Common symptoms of glaucoma include: 1. Colorful circles or halos appear around lights. 2. Eye swelling and headache occur after drinking water or being in a dark room for 15 to 30 minutes. 3. Reading glasses need to be replaced frequently. 4. Difficulty reading in the morning. 5. Obvious difference in vision between the two eyes. 6. When looking straight ahead, the range of peripheral vision (i.e., visual field) is significantly reduced, as if looking at something through a telescope, and the difference between the two eyes is obvious. 7. Myopia feels progressively worse, accompanied by headaches, nausea, and vomiting. 8. Elderly people often feel headaches, swelling of the brain, nausea, boredom, and soreness at the root of the nose.
Anyone can develop glaucoma, but the following groups are at higher risk:

1. People with a family history of glaucoma. 2. People over 50 years old have a higher risk of glaucoma, and the risk increases with age. 3. People with high refractive error. That is, people with high hyperopia or high myopia. 4. People with diabetes and hypertension. 5. People who use hormone drugs for a long time. It is recommended that people with the above high-risk factors go to the ophthalmology department for regular professional examinations to detect and treat early.

1. Maintain healthy eye habits, avoid excessive eye strain, and avoid prolonged eye use in dim light. 2. Develop good living habits, pay attention to the combination of work and rest, maintain emotional stability, and maintain good sleep. 3. Manage systemic diseases and control high blood pressure, diabetes and other diseases to reduce the negative impact of these diseases on eye health. 4. Avoid eye injuries. Wear protective glasses when participating in strenuous activities that may cause eye injuries.