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World Glaucoma Day to promote simple sight-saving test
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The focus of World Glaucoma Day on March 12 is to encourage those who are at risk of the disease to have a simple test that can save their vision. This second annual event is a joint global initiative of the World Glaucoma Association and the World Glaucoma Patient Association.
Those at highest risk are African Americans older than 40 years of age, anyone older than 60 years of age and those with a family history of glaucoma. Without treatment, those with glaucoma will lose their peripheral vision slowly until no vision remains, according to the National Eye Institute.
Scheduled events include screening and awareness activities in more than 70 countries. In New York City, ambassadors and deputy ambassadors at the United Nations will be screened through the combined efforts of the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary and the Glaucoma Foundation.
"[The glaucoma testing] will bring this important, underdiagnosed and potentially blinding disease to the attention of prominent leaders from every country, particularly if they are detected to have it themselves," said Robert Ritch, MD, Shelley and Steven Einhorn Distinguished Chair in Ophthalmology and chief of glaucoma services at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary.
The U.N. event will include slit lamp examination, as well as measurement of visual acuity, IOP and ophthalmoscopy. Dr. Ritch said he predicts that as many as 15% to 20% of those screened at the U.N. will have glaucoma or a detectable condition that would merit follow-up.
The Staten Island Ferry terminal in New York, where more than 100,000 people traverse daily, will be the site of a public screening effort coordinated by Roman Iospa, chief executive officer of BiCOM.
"It only takes a few seconds to determine elevated pressure, without discomfort to the patient," Mr. Iospa said of the noninvasive, through-the-eyelid screening technique to be used at the Staten Island venue.
According to the World Health Organization, glaucoma is one of the top 10 causes of visual impairment worldwide. Although the disease has been recognized for centuries, difficulties in early diagnosis and the frequent necessity of lifelong treatment are reasons why it continues to affect millions.
Of the estimated 3 million people in the United States with the disease, at least half are unaware of their condition, according to the National Eye Institute, and as many as 120,000 are blind as a result of the disease.
For more information on World Glaucoma Day, go to www.wgday.net. — by Pat Nale
- Roman Iospa can be reached at BiCOM, 151 E. Walnut St., Long Beach, NY, 11561; 877-342-8667; fax: 888-260-0606; e-mail: roman@tonometerdiaton.com.
- Robert Ritch, MD, can be reached at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, 310 E. 14th St., New York, NY 10003; 212-673-5140; fax: 212-420-8743; e-mail: ritchmd@earthlink.net.