It is commonly believed that glaucoma is the second most common blindness in the world, after cataracts, which can be restored after surgery, while glaucoma is an irreversible eye disease that, once blind, can never be seen again with the current medical technology and methods.
From this point of view, glaucoma is a much greater threat to vision than cataract, and is becoming the most terrible killer that robs us of our sight. The reason why Cheng Jinwei of Shanghai Long March Hospital Orbital Disease and Eye Tumor Clinic says it is terrible is that the vision loss caused by glaucoma is irreversible, and to a certain extent, even if the condition is treated with medication or surgery, it may not be able to retain useful vision, which eventually leads to complete loss of vision and loss of light perception. Secondly, because in other types of glaucoma, except acute glaucoma, vision loss is a chronic progressive process with insidious changes and no discomfort to the patient, therefore, glaucoma is known as the stealer of vision and is easily overlooked, and when it is felt, it is already at an advanced stage. Third, because glaucoma mostly develops in both eyes, individual patients end up losing vision in both eyes and losing their ability to live because of paralysis and carelessness. Fourthly, because glaucoma changes rapidly and has a variety of manifestations, it is difficult to diagnose, and some people have to go through long-term observation and repeated examinations to confirm the diagnosis. Fifth, because of the complexity of glaucoma treatment and individual differences, so far, it can only be controlled but not cured, even after surgery, there is also a risk of re-occurrence, so lifelong follow-up is required. The prevalence of glaucoma is high, with a reported prevalence of 1% in the population and 3% over the age of 45. It is conservatively estimated that there are currently more than 10 million glaucoma patients in China, and about 800,000 people are blind, and the trend is gradually increasing. A small number of patients are diagnosed with glaucoma only after examination because of visual fatigue, headache, insomnia and cold, and some patients are admitted to internal medicine for treatment of nausea and vomiting, headache and elevated blood pressure, and are transferred to ophthalmology to be diagnosed, at which time, vision has been seriously lost and the best time for treatment is lost. What exactly is glaucoma? Glaucoma is a type of disease caused by high intraocular pressure, which leads to optic nerve atrophy and visual field loss, the normal value of intraocular atrial fluid pressure on the wall of the eye is 10-21mmHg. Glaucoma is a malfunction of the atrial fluid drainage system, so that more and more atrial fluid accumulates in the eye, increasing the pressure on the wall of the eye, and the intraocular pressure can reach up to 70 or 80 mmHg or higher, and vision will be completely lost within a few days.