General News

Glaucoma is third major cause of blindness

As per the PGIMER, Chandigarh records, as many as 1,200-1,500 glaucoma patients every month and 10,000 patients are registered with the hospital. This number includes 40-50 new patients visiting PGIMER every week. Glaucoma is the commonest cause of irreversible blindness.

This year, PGIMER has extended the glaucoma programme from March 7 to 13, 2010. This is in reference to the World Glaucoma Day which is celebrated on March 12 every year. The purpose is to increase public awareness about this blinding disease.

According to the World Health Organization, about 314 million people around the world have impaired vision, due either to eye diseases or uncorrected refractive errors. Of theses, 45 million people are blind. More than 82 per cent of all blind are 50 years of age or older and more than 90 per cent of the worldโs visually impaired people live in the developing countries. Top five causes of blindness are cataract, refractive errors, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. These account for 75 per cent of all visual impairments.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/glaucoma-is-third-major-cause-of-blindness /588576/

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