Story and Pix By Saiful Bahri Kamaruddin

KUALA LUMPUR, 3 June 2016 – People who are over 40 and have a family history of Glaucoma or Diabetis, should have a complete eye examination with an Opthalmologist every one to two years, says Senior Lecturer and Ophthalmologist Consultant  Assoc Prof Jemaima Che Hamzah.

She said the buildup of pressure inside the eye associated with Glaucoma tends to be inherited and may not show up until later in life.

Glaucoma is a condition that causes the eyes’ optic nerve to be damaged  and gets worse over time.

The Head of Department of Ophthalmology and consultant at The National University of Malaysia’s (UKM) Medical Centre said as  people with glaucoma don’t show early symptoms or pain from this increased pressure, it is important they see their eye doctor regularly so that it can be diagnosed and treated before long-term visual loss occurs.

“If you have health problems such as diabetes or a family history of glaucoma or are at risk for other eye diseases, you may need to visit your eye doctor more frequently,” she explained at a press briefing on the Ophthalmology department’s services and latest cutting edge equipment in eye care, here today.

Glaucoma usually occurs when pressure in your eye increases, such as the eye fluid not  circulating normally in the front part of the eye.

“The increased pressure, called intraocular pressure, can damage the optic nerve, which transmits images to the brain. If damage to the optic nerve from high eye pressure continues, glaucoma will cause permanent loss of vision. Without treatment, glaucoma can cause total permanent blindness within a few years,” she cautioned.

She said early screening is the key to protecting your vision and the Chancellor Tuanku Muhriz Hospital (HCTM) has the latest hardware, the Heidelberg Spectralis Glaucoma Premium Module Edition (GPM), to do it.

According to Dr Jemaima the GPM scans the optic nerve and can detect anomalies that may lead to impaired vision later in life.

An Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) scan is also done on the retina to see whether there are early degenerative changes.

She said if these two tests indicate a high likelihood of impaired vision, further screening will be done to fund our whether glaucoma will occur.

Less common causes of glaucoma include a blunt or chemical injury to the eye, severe eye infection, blockage of blood vessels in the eye, inflammatory conditions of the eye, and occasionally eye surgery to correct another condition.