12th March 2021, Colombo: Vision Care, Sri Lanka’s largest eye care solutions provider, is marking World Glaucoma Week 2021 once again. In keeping with this year’s theme of “The world is bright, save your sight”, Vision Care is creating awareness of the dangers of glaucoma and the importance of all those over 40, especially individuals with various health conditions, getting their eyes tested by professionals regularly. The “World Glaucoma Week” is an annual global initiative of the World Glaucoma Association (WGA) that creates awareness on the dangers of glaucoma.
The WGA states that glaucoma “is a chronic, progressive, degenerative disorder of the optic nerve that produces characteristic visual field damage. Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness, and importantly: it is irreversible.” According to WGA, it is estimated that around 80 million people have glaucoma worldwide. Approximately 50% of the individuals with glaucoma are unaware that they have the disease. Globally, glaucoma is known to be one of the leading causes of vision loss for people over the age of 50. With glaucoma, the optic nerve which connects an individual’s eye to the brain can become damaged. As it is usually painless and does not give out any noticeable symptoms until it is quite advanced, glaucoma is considered a serious eye condition as once an individual loses his/her vision, it cannot be restored. Therefore, it is very important to have regular eye health checks which test for glaucoma at an early stage. With early diagnosis, careful monitoring and regular treatment, the vast majority of people retain useful sight for life.
Those at risk of glaucoma are individuals over 40 years with any one of the following health conditions: a family history of glaucoma, poor vision, an eye injury, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, high eye pressure, near-sightedness or far-sightedness as well as those using certain steroid medications such as prednisone.
The only way to know if an individual has glaucoma is to have the eyes checked periodically by eyecare professionals. Vision Care provides a comprehensive Glaucoma Assessment that includes various advanced tests such as Refraction, Visual Field, CCT, Pascal, OCT RNFL & GCL Scan and Fundus Disc Photography, all of which allow Vision Care’s experts to diagnose the disease, so that further treatment can be given for management of it.
Vision Care also offers high quality eye surgeon consultation, eye testing, spectacles, sunglasses, contact lenses as well as hearing aids and hearing testing. It has also pioneered the introduction of the best range of eyewear brands recognised globally to the local market. High quality, high precision contact lenses, optical and ophthalmic products are available at all outlets. Vision Care customers are able to choose from a wide array of top global brands for frames and sunglasses.