“Live without blemish: set your sight clear.” This is the message chosen by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB Italia Onlus) for the “World Glaucoma Weekscheduled from 12 to 18 March 2023.
Glaucoma numbers
Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness in the world. According to “World Report on Vision” 2019 of the World Health Organization are approx 64 million the people in the world suffering from glaucoma. Between these, 7 million they demonstrated loss of vision or blindness.
In Italy it is estimated that about one million people are affected by this disease, but half of them do not know it.
Glaucoma: what it is and how to prevent it
He glaucoma is a chronic degenerative disease that almost always affects both eyes and affects the optic nerve. Only in some cases can it manifest itself in an acute form, with violent pain in the eye, nausea, severe irritation and very high eye pressure. Glaucoma is almost always due to an increase in the pressure inside the eye which causes, over time, permanent damage to vision which is accompanied by:
1. Reduction of the visual field: the space that the eye can perceive without moving the head narrows;
2. Alteration of the “head” of the optic nerve: Visible on fundus examination.
A simple eye examination can allow you to diagnose glaucoma in the initial stage or not yet serious. Therefore, it is necessary to regularly undergo eye checkupsespecially in the presence of risk factors such as age (after forty), cases in the family.
Campaign for the prevention of optic retinal diseases “Healthy vision”
On the occasion of the world glaucoma week, the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB Italia – Onlus) has released the first data to emerge from the campaign for the prevention of optic-retinal diseases Vista in Salute. The campaign, funded by the Ministry of Health ( Law 30 December 2018, n.145 e Ddecree law 30 December 2019, n. 162) offered screening for glaucoma, maculopathies and diabetic retinopathy to over eight thousand people over the age of 40 in 54 Italian cities over the course of three years.
Two pieces of evidence emerged that give rise to greater concern regarding glaucoma:
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one in 25 people who participated in the screening had the disease without knowing it; the delay in diagnosis is one of the most serious criticalities of the disease and leads to a progressive loss of vision up to blindness. Glaucoma, in fact, is a degenerative disease of the optic nerve and the damage inflicted on the visual system is irreversible. Furthermore, the initial stages are asymptomatic.
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ten per cent of the glaucoma patients examined, who had already been diagnosed and treated, had uncompensated ocular pressure values.
The only tool to diagnose glaucoma in time is the visit to the ophthalmologist and the only way to stem its progress is scrupulously follow the therapy.
Vision-threatening diseases have a huge social impact and an aging population will increase the risk of blindness over time. Ophthalmological prevention and treatment must be central within the National Health System, rethinking the role that visual health plays within the right to health.
The initiatives of IAPB Italia Onlus on the Italian territory
They were organized by IAPB Italia Onlus together with the Italian Union of the Blind and Visually Impaired prevention and awareness-raising activities in 85 Italian cities.
The complete list of initiatives in the various cities and other information on the pathology are available on the website dedicated to World Glaucoma Week.
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