50 and beyond

Some time in 2018, I went to Mee Mee Optics at Bukit Timah Plaza to get my eye checked so that I could get a new pair of spectacles. The optician carried out a range of tests, including a very uncomfortable puffer test where she puffed air into my eye to measure the intraocular pressure of my eye.

She then told me that there was something odd with my left eye and advised me to seek an ophthalmologist’s assessment immediately.

So, I went to see Clement Tan from NUH.

I first went through an MRI test brain tumour, a neck scan and a retina scan to rule out tumours and other conditions. Then, I went through a battery of eye tests, which were repeated over an 18-month period, before I was finally diagnosed with glaucoma of the left eye.

I have a rare form of glaucoma. Glaucoma usually strikes in the elderly (above 55 years-old, but more commonly, even older), and patients with glaucoma usually have high intraocular pressure. But I was then only in my 40s, and I had normal intraocular pressure. The only indicator which confirmed that I had glaucoma was the slow deterioration of my eyesight; in fact, it took 18 months to rule out congenital condition or trauma to the eye in my childhood and finally confirm that I have “normal tension glaucoma”. Fortunately, the area affected is not near my central vision and so, my vision has not yet been impacted much.

Although I was distressed when I first knew that I had this condition, because it is so slow moving, and because I am on life-long eyedrops, I no longer feel anxious about it anymore because there has been no deterioration in the past couple of years.

Although I have normal tension glaucoma, the treatment for my condition is still the same, except that the goal, in my case, is to lower the pressure to a range below the norm.

Let me tell you a discovery I made in the course of applying eye drops to lower the intraocular pressure in the left eye. I use a medicated eye drop called Lumigan. Lumigan brings down the eye pressure. After applying the eyedrops for several years now, I suddenly noticed that I have very luscious left-eye lashes! They are twice as thick and prominent as the lashes on my right eye. To even out the discrepancy in my eyes, I started applying the eyedrops to only the lashes on my right eye.

I mentioned this discovery to a friend who is an aesthetic doctor and she told me that the eyedrop is indeed marketed in the aesthetic industry as an eyelash-enhancing product! It’s like Pfizer’s Viagara, isn’t it, where the drug was originally developed for treating high blood pressure and angina, but later used for treating erectile dysfunction?

So, how is my left eye today? Well, under the thorough care of Dr Clement, my condition is stable. And, I no longer have headaches. I have been having regular tension headaches ever since I was a teenager, and I had always attributed these headaches to lack of sleep, to periods, to stress, etc. But they stopped after I started using the eyedrops. This is one thing that I am very grateful for. My quality of life has been greatly enhanced since I started applying Lumigan; my headaches are far and few in between, and I have thicker and longer eye lashes!