ANSWER COMMON QUESTIONS ABOUT GLAUCOMA WITH DR. VU ANH TUAN (PART 1) | JAPAN INTERNATIONAL EYE HOSPITAL

Glaucoma is a disease that requires lifelong treatment, accompanied by inconveniences affecting daily activities, bringing many worries to patients. Let's listen to Dr. Vu Anh Tuan - Professional Director at Japan International Eye Hospital answers common questions about Glaucoma to protect eyes from this "silent thief" through the article below!

1. Glaucoma can be cured completely or not?

Glaucoma cannot be completely cured. All treatment efforts today are only to stop the progression of the disease or slow it down and cannot restore the lost visual function in the eye.

2. Can the patient restore vision after Glaucoma treatment?

Eye damage caused by glaucoma is permanent, which means that damage can never be reversed. Glaucoma treatment only works to preserve the remaining visual function. The parts of visual function that have been lost have no chance of getting back. Therefore, glaucoma patients need to be treated as soon as possible.

In the early stages, the visual function is still much, the patient can maintain good visual function. At the late stage, the visual function is still very little, so no matter how well the treatment is, the results after treatment are very limited.

3. What should be noted in the process of using drugs to treat Glaucoma?

The use of drugs to treat Glaucoma is the most popular method of choice today. When using the drug, the patient should pay attention to the schedule of use in terms of time and dose. This is extremely important because it is still the same drug, if we do not check at the right time as prescribed by the doctor, it can reduce the effects of the drug, even leading to overlapping side effects. .

If the habit is not established, the patient is more likely to forget the medicine, experts encourage patients to record the schedule on a piece of paper or a reminder device. For example, until a certain time, which medicine will be used. After a while, the patient will get used to that regimen and now automatically take the medicine to check.

Adherence to treatment is a key factor in ensuring the effectiveness of drug use. If it is still the same drug, but the patient does not comply well, the treatment results are also very limited. Adherence to medication schedule plays an important role in glaucoma treatment.

4. What should be paid attention to in daily life and work when suffering from Glaucoma?

Patients can live peacefully with Glaucoma and perform all tasks normally. There are no restrictions for people with glaucoma.

However, not only Glaucoma but some other diseases, doctors recommend patients not to use alcohol. Because when drinking alcohol, the patient's eye pressure will increase, which is a taboo in the treatment of Glaucoma.

5. How long does it take from the onset of the disease until the disease progresses and affects vision? When is the best time to treat Glaucoma?

The progression of glaucoma depends on the type of disease. There are three main types of glaucoma, including:

Acute form

In this form, the disease progresses very rapidly, leading to blindness within a few days or weeks.

Chronic form

In this form, the disease will progress very slowly. After 10 to 15 years, the disease affects a lot of visual function. However, the disease can progress silently without the person knowing it during that time. That is also the reason that Glaucoma is called the "silent light thief" because of its slow and prolonged disease progression.

Intermediate form (subacute form)

In this form of disease, after a period of progression of several years, the disease can lead to the risk of blindness. The best time to treat glaucoma is when the disease first appears. When there are severe lesions, the treatment will not achieve good results.

The way to detect the disease at an early stage is that the patient has to take the initiative to have regular eye exams, even if he is not sick. The frequency of eye exams recommended by experts is once every 1-2 years for normal people, and 1-2 times a year for high-risk subjects (people with the same bloodline as Glaucoma patients, people over 40 years old, people with other diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, refractive errors, people with a history of using steroids).

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6. What factors can increase the risk of blindness in glaucoma?

The risk of blindness in Glaucoma is:

Eye pressure

For people with very high eye pressure, the disease will progress quickly and increase the risk of blindness. For people with moderate intraocular pressure, there is an increase but not too high, the disease progression will still take place but slower and longer lead to more blindness.

Adherence

If the patient strictly adheres to the regimen chosen by the doctor, the condition will be stable or progress very slowly. If the patient does not comply with the treatment regimen, such as using drugs at the wrong time, remembering and forgetting, the disease will progress rapidly leading to blindness.

Age

Usually with young people, the disease will progress more slowly than the elderly, because the visual function is less affected and damaged, the tolerance of the optic nerve cells is better.

7. Is there any herbal medicine or eye exercises that can cure Glaucoma?

Currently, there is not a single medicine or eye exercise that has been recognized as effective for Glaucoma by recognized associations or scientists.

Eye exercises can help relax the eyes, avoid the progression of myopia, eye strain. As for glaucoma, there are no eye exercises that can slow or reverse the progression of the disease.

8. In the treatment of Glaucoma, when will the doctor prescribe the drug? When is a laser procedure indicated and when is surgery required?

According to the recommendations of the World Glaucoma Association, the use of drugs is the first choice in the treatment of glaucoma. In addition, there are also a number of methods such as conducting lasers, then using drugs.

If the above methods fail, then surgery is performed. The more glaucoma surgery performed in older patients, the higher the success rate.

In addition, as the patient gets older, the patient will have difficulty remembering the medication schedule. Therefore, early surgery may be considered instead of medication. For young people, the success rate will be lower, and drug use is encouraged.

9. Are there any risks to Glaucoma surgery?

Glaucoma surgery is considered quite safe. Most patients have preserved visual function at the time of surgery. Although surgery cannot make the eye clear, it cannot restore the lost part, but it can preserve the remaining function.

After surgery, most eyes will be slightly blurred due to surgical trauma, a side effect of surgery. But in just a few weeks to 1 month, the eyes will stop blurring and visual function will be restored.

Like any other surgery, Glaucoma surgery has a low rate of complications and risks, but also needs to be considered before surgery. To limit risks and complications, the doctor will consider the most suitable surgical plan and the status of eye pressure before surgery. For example, if the eye pressure is high and the patient undergoes surgery, the risk of complications increases. If using drugs to lower intraocular pressure, with rapid effects such as oral or intravenous infusion, the risk of complications will be significantly reduced.