Progression of Glaucoma could be controlled with early detection

Glaucoma, according to doctors, is a disease of the eye, which has no early warning signs and many affected patients are unaware they have the disease until it has advanced. And once someone has lost his or her vision from glaucoma, it cannot be regained. Researchers in New York and Sweden, focusing on a previous study called The Early Manifest Glaucoma Trial, conducted a study which looked at why some patients had their disease progress while others did not. The Early Manifest Glaucoma Trial had included 255 patients from 50 to 80 years old who had early stage glaucoma in at least one eye. Half of the patients were treated with medicines and laser to lower eye pressure and the other half of the patients were not treated. Both the groups were checked by doctors every three months.

The researchers, at the end of six years, found that 53 percent of the patients had progression of their glaucoma. They reported that the progression risk was cut in half in patients who were treated as compared to those who were not treated. They added that other factors were also responsible for progression of the disease, which included patients with higher eye pressure or who had the disease in both eyes or old age. Researchers concluded that each millimeter of mercury that was lowered was associated with a 10 percent decrease in the disease progression. This proved that early treatment of glaucoma can reduce the risk of the disease progressing.