The National Institute of Ophthalmology under the Ministry of Healthheld a meeting in response to World Glaucoma Week 2015 in Hanoi on March10.
The event aims to raise public awareness on early glaucomadetection and treatment as the key to preventing optic nerve damageand vision loss.
Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness in the world, especially among the elderly.
WorldGlaucoma Week is a joint global initiative of the World GlaucomaAssociation and the World Glaucoma Patients Association to raiseawareness of the disease.
The term glaucoma includes a group of eye diseases causing optic nerve damage.
Theoptic nerve carries images from the retina, or the specialised lightsensing tissue, to the brain to be translated as sight. In glaucoma, eyepressure damages the delicate nerve fibers of the optic nerve. When asignificant number of nerve fibers are damaged, blind spots develop inthe field of vision, ultimately progressing to permanent loss of sight.
Most don't notice these blind areas until much ofthe optic nerve damage has already occurred. Blindness results fromentire nerve decay.
There were as many as 60.5 millionpatients with glaucoma worldwide in 2010, and scientists estimate thenumber will increase to 79.6 million by 2020.
Over three million Vietnamese have lost their sight in one eye, 6.6 percent of which caused by glaucoma.-VNA
The event aims to raise public awareness on early glaucomadetection and treatment as the key to preventing optic nerve damageand vision loss.
Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness in the world, especially among the elderly.
WorldGlaucoma Week is a joint global initiative of the World GlaucomaAssociation and the World Glaucoma Patients Association to raiseawareness of the disease.
The term glaucoma includes a group of eye diseases causing optic nerve damage.
Theoptic nerve carries images from the retina, or the specialised lightsensing tissue, to the brain to be translated as sight. In glaucoma, eyepressure damages the delicate nerve fibers of the optic nerve. When asignificant number of nerve fibers are damaged, blind spots develop inthe field of vision, ultimately progressing to permanent loss of sight.
Most don't notice these blind areas until much ofthe optic nerve damage has already occurred. Blindness results fromentire nerve decay.
There were as many as 60.5 millionpatients with glaucoma worldwide in 2010, and scientists estimate thenumber will increase to 79.6 million by 2020.
Over three million Vietnamese have lost their sight in one eye, 6.6 percent of which caused by glaucoma.-VNA
