Lagos, May 13, 2019 (NAN) The Glaucoma Society of Nigeria (GSN) said in Lagos, Southwest Nigeria, on Monday that the reason glaucoma was increasing in Nigeria was because we are Africans and black skinned.
Prof. Adeola Onakoya, the Chairman of GSN and a Consultant Ophthalmologist at the College of Medicine, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi Araba, disclosed in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
According to her, blacks are more at risk because they have larger optic discs with smaller rim areas which confer a biomechanical disadvantage.
“The greatest challenge Nigerians are facing is the fact that we are black skinned; and because of this, the aggressive nature of the disease affecting us becomes higher.
“Other risk factors of the disease on the black skin is high intra-ocular pressure in old age, which increases as people advance in age.
“Africans have thinner Corneas, they lack response to treatment and have low awareness about the disease.
“Evidence indicates an inherent disease risk in the black race, irrespective of environment, education, and medical systems,’’ Onakoya said.
She also said that in Nigeria, 50 per cent of sufferers were not aware of the disease because its awareness level was only at five per cent in Nigerian patients.
Onakoya described glaucoma as a complex disease with loads of challenges for control across the world.
She said glaucoma affected 5.02 per cent of the population above 40 years, adding that it was the commonest cause of functional low vision in Nigerians for people above age 40.
The Ophthalmologist said its prevalence in the country was at 0.7 per cent, urging suffers not to hide but go for diagnosis.
The expert said early detection of glaucoma and accurate diagnosis of the sub-types would reduce the rate at which people got blinded from the disease.
She said glaucoma was a type of eye disease that could damage the Optic nerve, that is, the part of the eye that carries visual information to the brain and allows a person to see.
Onakoya said the disease could result in vision loss and blindness, stressing that over 90 per cent of the people were not aware of the disease, including sufferers.
She said low level of awareness, poor compliance with treatment and adherence, as well as long-term medical expenses, were among other causes of its big burden on blacks.
Onakoya, therefore, urged stakeholders to help reduce the burden by making glaucoma care an Integral part of the public Health system at all levels.
