50 and beyond

I recently went to NUHS Eye Clinic for my 6-monthly eye check up. Those of you who read my blog know that about 3 years ago, I found out that I had glaucoma. Fortunately, this disease is rather slow moving; it takes about 20 years on average for the eye to go blind if there is no intervention. For my case, since the doctor diagnosed me with glaucoma, I have been on eye drops to bring down the pressure in my eye. There has been hardly any further deterioration of loss of vision in my left eye for the past 2 years.

My eye condition is rather unusual. I am told that I have normal tension glaucoma. “Normal” is around 13 mmHg to 17 mmHg. Mine hovers around this level for both eyes.

But something strange happened this time round this visit. Although the good news was that my vision was stable and I did not lose any vision (thank God), the pressure reading in my right eye read 24mmHg and my left 20mmHg.

The doctor looked concerned.

He decided to change course of treatment. He told me that my left eye had probably gotten used to the eyedrops and that the meds has lost its effectiveness. So, he is starting me on a third type of eyedrops. In addition, he said to start applying the drops to the right eye. Prior to this, my right eyes has always had normal tension.

He also said to see him in 3 months instead of 6 months, to check on the situation.

Let’s see if the eye drops work.