CHENNAI: It’s not an optician who can detect high eye pressure and damage to the optic nerve, but an ophthalmologist,” said Dr Mohan Rajan at the launch of Rajan Eye Care’s Glaucoma Awareness and Prevention (GAP) Week to mark the ongoing World Glaucoma Week. State health minister Ma Subramanian released two books on the occasion, including a colour atlas revealing various eye conditions to benefit ophthalmologists.
“High eye pressure or intraocular pressure damages the optic nerve connecting the eye to the brain, causing glaucoma, a group of eye conditions,” Dr Mohan said. Explaining the seriousness of early detection to patients present, he said that unlike cataracts which can be corrected surgically, glaucoma causes irreversible blindness. If found early, its growth can be slowed. A comprehensive screening for glaucoma takes about an hour. The doctor urged people to watch out for tunnel vision or kudira paarvai, where peripheral vision is affected, and causes pain in the eye and distorted vision.
The public should be empowered to take matters of health into their hands, noted Dr Lingam Vijaya, consultant at Sankara Nethralaya. “Eye examinations should be included as part of master health checkups. People shoud ask questions like: does the check-up include eye screening? Does it include vision measurement? Will it check intraocular eye pressure, the optic nerve and the retina? When such a day comes, most diseases can be detected early like diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma.”
Using the opportunity to inform the public of two recently-launched state initiatives, the health minister said that the ‘Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam’, a doorstep scheme, offers free check-ups and medicine to people at their homes. It also provides testing for communicable and non-communicable diseases, and services such as physiotherapy and palliative care. He also revealed that under the Inniyor Kaapom (free emergency care for accident victims for the first 48 hours), deaths in road accidents in January 2022 fell to 540 from 1,700 in January 2021.
Dr Lingam Gopal and Dr Lingam Vijaya also felicitated Dr Mohan Rajan and Dr Sujatha Mohan, executive medical director, Rajan Eye Care Hospital at the event.