2023-06-13 14:03:00
“In Italy about one million and 200 thousand people suffer from glaucoma and it is estimated that over 50% of patients do not know they have it because they have never had an eye exam. They no longer see well but postpone checks, effectively underestimating the problem of high pressure in the eye, which some even confuse with cataracts”. Thus Antonio Rapisarda, scientific director of the Morgagni Polyclinic section of Di Stefano Velona (Catania) and past president of the Italian Glaucoma Society, on the eve of the XIX national congress of Sigla scheduled in Turin from 15 to 17 June. “A congress dedicated to the disease – explains Rapisarda – in addition to being an opportunity for the over one thousand subscribers to get updated on new treatments and diagnostic investigations, technology helps us a lot in this, and on the role of minimally invasive surgery”.
The silent thief of sight, as glaucoma is called, “is a sneaky disease – remarked Rapisarda – in fact, when the first symptoms appear, the damage is already full-blown and the therapy only serves to block the pathology. Impossible to go back or heal because glaucoma is a chronic, progressive and bad disease. If underestimated it leads to blindness. For these reasons it is necessary to focus on prevention, which is fundamental especially after the age of 40 because it is the age in which the disease statistically begins to appear, especially among those who work a lot in front of a computer. If in this phase of life the person does not see well up close and has abnormal eye pressure, he must undergo all the tests necessary to understand what type of glaucoma we are dealing with. That is, tonometry to measure eye pressure; perimetry for the study of the functionality of the optic nerve; pachymetry which allows you to measure the thickness of the cornea; and gonioscopy, an eye test that measures the angle created between the iris and the cornea”.
Prevention, according to Rapisarda, above all means following a calendar of eye examinations: “an eye examination serves to prevent glaucoma but also other diseases – he maintains – therefore it is indispensable as well as useful. The first eye examination is performed at birth because there are congenital glaucomas and other eye diseases that appear at birth; in pre-school and school age, then every 5 years until the age of 20. If at the age of 40 the person does not show any pathology, the visit can be repeated even every 3-4 years”. In terms of therapies, Rapisarda ensures that “we have many weapons available, including eye drops and neuroprotective supplements that must be taken orally”. The eye drops “must be instilled several times a day, they serve to lower eye tone but at the same time produce the annoying dryness of the eye; therefore, the patient must use ocular surface lubricants in addition to hypotensive eye drops to prevent dry eye syndrome ”she concludes.
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