by: MARIA ROSARIO GRACIA M. GAMET, RN
      Health Education & Promotion Officer III

The Bataan General Hospital celebrated World Glaucoma Week last March 14, 2018. Dr. Luis Hizon, the head of the Out Patient Department emphasized the free services being offered at the Eye Care Center. To highlight the activity, Dr. Crissa Marie Pionela a glaucoma specialist of the Bataan General Hospital conducted a lecture discussion on the signs and symptoms, diagnosis and management of glaucoma. According to the statistics she presented, glaucoma is the second leading cause of irreversible blindness affecting 60.5 million individuals worldwide and in the Philippines, it is the third leading cause of irreversible blindness of both eyes. In addition, she also discussed the different tests to diagnose glaucoma. To summarize her discussion, she emphasized the following important points:

• Glaucoma may have no symptoms & people may have it & not know it
• Glaucoma screening is important to detect and treat it early
• There is no single diagnostic test to diagnose glaucoma
• Once diagnosed, regular lifelong follow-up is important
• Glaucoma damage & vision loss is permanent
• Treatment aim is to preserve whatever vision remains

Before she ended her discussion, she reiterated that everyone should have a regular
eye check-up for early detection and management of glaucoma, thus contributing to the sight prevention. An open forum followed afterwards.