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Doctors warn of latent glaucoma threat

More than 50,000 people in Taiwan have been diagnosed with glaucoma, an eye disease that can lead to blindness if not treated properly.

But despite the seriousness of this disease, an estimated 250,000 people are not aware that they are affected by glaucoma and consequently have not received any treatment, doctors said in Taipei yesterday.

“Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness worldwide,” said Lu Da-wen (呂大文), chief of glaucoma services at Tri-Service General Hospital’s Department of Ophthalmology.

Lu said the average age of glaucoma patients is falling, and that younger patients suffer from a faster rate of disease progression.

“[Younger patients] have poorer compliance with medical procedures and often miss the golden period of treatment,” Lu said, adding that “the two greatest challenges in glaucoma treatment is patient compliance and effective control of eye pressure.”

“I discovered I had glaucoma when I was in the fifth grade,” said 24-year-old Jia Fan (范振嘉).

He went to the doctor because he “saw a ring of colorful lights” around bright objects. Like many young glaucoma patients, Fan delayed treatment until he experienced extreme pain.

“When I went to the doctor [for the second time], the pressure in my right eye had reached 60mmHg,” he said.

Pressure in a normal eye should be between 8mmHg and 21 mmHg.

Fan received medication to lower his eye pressure, but he discontinued treatment soon after the pain went away because his college entrance exams were approaching. When he was in his second year in college, the pain returned and he had to undergo surgery.

“Now I use eyedrops every day and my eye pressure has returned to normal,” said Fan, who has only 10 percent of his field of vision left.

While other treatment methods such as laser surgery are also available, “laser surgery not only carries higher risk, but also produces negative side effects such as reducing contrast perception,” said Lany Kuo (柯美蘭), director of Hsinchu General Hospital’s Department of Ophthalmology.

“Once-daily medication regimens help reduce involuntary non-compliance,” Kuo said.

From Sept. 1, DuoTrav, a medication used to treat certain forms of glaucoma, will be covered by the National Health Insurance, the doctors said.
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