Despite effective treatments, many people suffer some preventable loss of peripheral vision. One problem is that the disease too often goes undetected. About half of the estimated 2.2 million Americans with glaucoma are not aware that their vision is at risk because they have not been tested, surveys suggest. The longer the disease goes untreated, the greater the loss of vision. Worldwide, an estimated 60 million people have glaucoma, and that number is expected to reach 80 million by 2020.
Another hurdle is getting patients who know they have glaucoma to take their medicine. “Glaucoma is typically diagnosed before patients notice any vision problems,” said Dr. Robert C. Cykiert, clinical assistant professor of ophthalmology at the Langone Medical Center at New York University. “So telling them they could go blind if they don’t use their eye drops is like telling someone with high cholesterol that they could have a heart attack if they don’t take a statin. A lot of people don’t take the threat seriously enough.”
A 2003 study found that half of patients in a health maintenance organization never filled their initial prescription for eye drops. One in four patients failed to refill their prescriptions a second time, another survey found, even though eye drops need to be used every day to be effective.
While scientists search for better treatments for glaucoma, the second-leading cause of blindness, people can take action to give themselves the best chance: get a regular glaucoma screening exam, and if glaucoma is diagnosed, take the treatment regimen seriously. Your sight depends on it.