Since 2008, Glaucoma Day has been commemorated every March 12 , an event instituted and promoted by the World Glaucoma Association (WGA) and the World Glaucoma Patients Association (WGPA) to raise awareness about a silent disease that can lead to blindness if not detected in time.
It is a condition of the optic nerve caused by an increase in eye pressure that affects more than 80 million people in the world, although almost half of them do not know it. This condition has become the second cause of blindness in the developed world.
Glaucoma encompasses up to 60 eye diseases that can cause the patient’s blindness, a product of progressive degeneration of the ocular nerve. There are several ways in which the pressure inside the eye increases. It can appear suddenly with congestion and pain (acute glaucoma) or evolve slowly over years without pain or symptoms, becoming the silent thief of vision.
It usually occurs after the fourth decade of life, although it is rarely seen in a congenital or juvenile form. The name of this condition comes from Greek mythology, Glaucus, son of Poseidon and Nereus, with a beard and green hair. In fact, “glauco” in Spanish means light green.
Eye pressure was taken digitally (if the eye was hard, the damage was irreparable). Only in the 19th century was Franz Donders able to make a tonometer to measure pressure. This way you could know the diagnosis of some eyes that lost vision without congesting the eyeball, it was what was known as Gutta Serena.
It was Albrecht von Gräfe (1828-1870) who took the first steps in the surgical treatment of glaucoma. One of his disciples, Richard Liebreich (1830-1917), successfully operated on the mother of the Empress Eugenia de Montijo for glaucoma.
In 1860, medicinal treatment of ocular pressure began. It was Adolf Weber who introduced pilocarpine in 1877 – a drug that reduces eye pressure and, in turn, constricts the pupil (causing miosis that increases the depth of focus and allows an improvement in both distance and near vision. Also It is the essential component of the drops sold today for the treatment of presbyopia.
Before the 19th century it was very difficult to know who suffered from glaucoma. The appearance of the tonometer and the ophthalmoscope made it possible to study pressure and observe the optic nerve and the changes in its appearance as it atrophies due to alterations in microcirculation.
It is estimated that 1% of the total population suffers from glaucoma, a percentage that increases with age.
In this framework, the Chamber of Ophthalmological Medicine (CAMEOF) warns about the importance of carrying out an annual ophthalmological check-up starting at age 40, or even earlier if there are risk factors or you have family members with a history.
Personalities in history who suffered it
It is believed that Homer, the blind poet who wrote the Iliad, had suffered from congenital glaucoma. John Milton, also a poet and author of Paradise Lost, was blinded by chronic glaucoma that progressively deprived him of his vision and forced his daughters to write at the dictation of his mother.
Leonhard Euler (1707-1783), the famous mathematician, spent the last years of his life blind. Many of his last works were also dictated to his son.
Mikhail Botvínnik (1911-1995), the famous Soviet chess champion, had lost vision in one eye and had limited vision in the other due to his glaucoma.
It is the field of music where we can find more people affected by eye pressure, like Andrea Bocelli (1958) who was born with congenital glaucoma. As a child he underwent several surgeries, but lost his vision due to trauma when he was 12 years old.
Ray Charles (1930-2004) also lost his vision due to juvenile glaucoma - by analogy it is worth clarifying that Stevie Wonder (1950) was blinded by retinopathy of prematurity which, in some cases, can cause high eye pressure. José Feliciano (1945) also suffered from congenital glaucoma, the cause of his blindness.
Cases of congenital glaucoma are relatively rare (1 in every 10,000 newborns) and are expressed from the first moments of life with tearing and larger than usual eyes because the diameter increases due to pressure. These cases must be operated on early and many of them have a normal development.
Taking eye pressure is routine in the office, the only way to detect the disease. The earlier the diagnosis, the greater the chance of maintaining good vision. Hence the importance of a routine visit to the eye doctor, the only one in a position to make this diagnosis.
There is an incredible technological development that leads to very early diagnoses such as axial tomography of the optic disc, a place where the visual field deteriorates due to circulatory disorders caused by ocular pressure on the small vessels of the nerve. There are also different devices that allow you to accurately measure the parts of the eyeball involved in cases of pressure.
CAMEOF recommends consulting with a specialist in case of:
• See colored halos or a rainbow around lights.
• Frequent tripping may have to do with a visual field defect.
• Have a family history of glaucoma.
• Suffer persistent headaches.
• Take antispasmodic, anxiolytic and/or tranquilizing medications.
• Have sudden blurred vision with headache
• Babies who are born with large eyes or have watery eyes may suffer from congenital glaucoma.
• Having had trauma to the eye can develop glaucoma years later.
• High hyperopia or high myopia are more likely to have glaucoma.
*Dr. Omar López Mato is an ophthalmologist and member of the Chamber of Ophthalmological Medicine (CAMEOF)
