These are the findings of a new study published in the peer-reviewed journal ‘Brain’. The ‘NHS’ reported that a proof of concept study of early testing for glaucoma – the most common cause of sight loss – had promising results.
The new study by researchers from Western Eye Hospital, Imperial College and University College London, reinforces the importance of having regular eye tests as these can often pick up glaucoma before it becomes a significant problem.
“You should have an eye test at least every two years,” the researchers recommended. Glaucoma is a condition that causes damage to the eye’s optic nerve and it gets worse over time. It’s often linked to a build-up of pressure inside the eye. Glaucoma tends to be inherited and may not show up until later in life.
Glaucoma is more common among people aged over 75. In glaucoma, the lightsensitive cells of the retinal nerve die, usually because of increased pressure in the eye.
The damage to the nerve, which is irreversible, causes progressive loss of vision and because people with glaucoma often don’t have symptoms in the early stages of the disease, a lot of damage may be done before it is picked up. Diagnosing glaucoma early would allow earlier treatment to relieve pressure in the eye, and may prevent sight loss.
The new technique involves injecting people with a fluorescent dye (thankfully into the bloodstream, not the eye), and taking images of the eye. Dying retinal nerve cells show up as white spots on the image. Researchers com- pared images from eight people with early glaucoma and eight healthy people, and showed that white spots were more than twice as common in people with glaucoma.
They also seemed more common in people whose glaucoma got worse quickly over time. However, the technique needs to be tested in large-scale studies to confirm the result as well as find out more about any safety issue.
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