Glaucoma Foundation concentrates on finding cure for exfoliation syndrome

The Glaucoma Foundation is focused on finding a cure for exfoliation syndrome, according to a press release.

“Rather than concentrating more broadly on glaucoma, what we’ve decided to do is to basically cure glaucoma, one glaucoma at a time,” Scott Christensen, president of the Glaucoma Foundation, told Ocular Surgery News. “We chose exfoliation because it is the one type of glaucoma or cause of glaucoma about which we know the most, so the appeal was by concentrating on exfoliation, what we could do is hopefully come up with a cure much faster than we might for something else.”

Exfoliation syndrome is one of the main identifiable causes of open-angle glaucoma and can cause complications during routine cataract surgery, the release said. It is an age-related systemic disease that affects an estimated 80 million people worldwide.

Christensen said the foundation’s annual International Think Tank is focused on exfoliation. The Think Tank is an interdisciplinary event comprised of people from a variety of backgrounds, including some with no previous work in glaucoma.

In addition, the foundation’s grant research program is centered on finding a cure for exfoliation syndrome. The deadline for grant applications is Sept. 1.

“It’s been wonderful to see the process that we have gone through to reach where we are,” Christensen said. “We’re looking at everything that we do to make sure that it furthers this initiative going forward.”