AN eye expert, Professor Adeola Onakoya, says illiteracy and poverty can increase the chances of going blind from glaucoma. She also noted that the genetic make-up of Igbo people make them more susceptible to the eye defect than others.
She therefore urged Nigerians, particularly from age 40, to ensure they have yearly eye check-ups to catch the disease early before blindness sets in.
Professor Onakoya, the head of glaucoma services, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Lagos spoke at a departmental grand round entitled ‘The Burden of Glaucoma Management in sub-Sahara Africa’ to mark the retirement from service of Professor Adeyinka Ashaye at the University College Hospital.
Professor Ashaye was the founding chairman of the Glaucoma Society of Nigeria.
Onakoya, an ophthalmologist, said of the 2.5 million people living with glaucoma in Nigeria, 420,000 who are above age 40 are already blind due to this eye disease that is more prevalent among the Igbos in South-Eastern Nigeria.
According to her, “In Nigeria, one of every five persons is blind from glaucoma in both eyes and these are just people above age 40 years. There are people below 40 years who have very bad juvenile glaucoma that have also gone blind.
“Overall, south-eastern Nigeria has the highest prevalence of glaucoma. People of Igbo ethnic group are more predisposed to developing glaucoma in Nigeria. Also being a man, not lettered; people that are short-sighted, have severe hypertension and are Yoruba are also at risk of developing glaucoma.
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“In Igbos, a study discovered that the makeup of their eyes what you call optic disc is larger; they have bigger corneas and their response to eye drops is not as good as other people in other climes. And also, awareness about the disease is poor.”
Professor Onakoya, who noted that anecdotally, obesity, smoking, alcohol, anxiety and excessive stress had been linked with the development of glaucoma, said Nigeria and other African countries are disproportionately affected by blindness generally because 15 to 30 percent of blindness in African above 40 years is due to glaucoma.
The eye expert said 56 percent of Nigerians with glaucoma had intraocular pressures within the normal range and as such a full eye examination is important to rule out glaucoma in any individual rather than the mere measurement of the intraocular pressure.
While about 50 percent of glaucoma patients only come to the hospital after they have lost vision already in one eye, she declared that in Nigeria, glaucoma care is fraught with poor access, lack of transportation, poor awareness and physician-centred care and disproportionate distribution of human resources and facilities.