Indicated as the main cause of irreversible blindness, glaucoma is a silent disease that can affect up to 2.5 million people over 40 years of age in Brazil, according to the Brazilian Society of Glaucoma (SBG). The most worrying thing, according to ophthalmologist Roberto Galvão Filho, president of SBG, is that 70% of these people are unaware that they suffer from the disease, which can be defined as an increase in intraocular pressure that damages the optic nerve. “We have the best diagnoses and treatments in the world in Brazil. The difficulty we have is that the patient with glaucoma comes to us. Glaucoma does not hurt and, most of the time, it does not have any symptoms. The defect that glaucoma The cause starts at the visual periphery and then goes to the center, so the patient does not realize that he is losing sight. By the time he realizes that something is wrong, up to 60% of the optic nerve has already been destroyed”. The difficulty of communicating with the population to warn about the risks of glaucoma and new forms of treatment are among the topics that SBG will discuss at the 20th International Symposium, which takes place from March 9 to 11, in Porto de Galinhas, Bahia . About 500 experts are expected to participate. “For us to treat it well, we have to know where the glaucoma is, what type of glaucoma affects most Brazilians and in what age group it is more severe. We need to carry out these evaluations and define the best type of treatment that we should do in each region of the country”. Galvão says that one of the objectives of the meeting is to elaborate a treatment proposal to be forwarded to health departments and the federal government. “There will be a region of the country where treatment with eye drops is more efficient. There will be a region where laser treatment is better. And there will be a region where both are used. and try to create a treatment proposal that is the best possible for Brazil”. Risk factors The doctor warns that you need to be aware of risk factors for glaucoma – the main one is having a family history. He claims that the disease is more common in black people and people of African descent, people with diabetes and hypertension, with myopia, and users of corticoid-based medicines. “Regardless of anything, the ideal is to go to the ophthalmologist once a year. And, in the office, we can detect glaucoma in earlier stages, when it is easier to treat”. Glaucoma treatments in the early stages, with eye drops or laser, aim to lower the pressure in the eye and keep it under control slowly. When the disease is more advanced, surgery is often needed to lower the pressure more abruptly. “Most patients with glaucoma are elderly, although it can appear at any age, from babies. It begins to be more common after 40, and has its peak incidence between 60 and 70 years”.
Agência Brasil
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