ST. THOMAS EYE HOSPITAL BEGINS GLAUCOMA LASER TREATMENT IN GHANA

Ghana has one of the highest prevalences of Glaucoma in the world with almost one out of every ten (8.5%) people and 40 years and above, having the disease. Glaucoma accounts for 19.4% of all causes of blindness in Ghana and ranks as the leading cause of irreversible blindness in the country.

The most common form of the disease in Ghana is the Primary Open Angle Glaucoma which is usually associated with increased eye pressures (intraocular pressures) with consequent damage to the optic nerve and progressive blindness.
The eye pressures can be controlled using either medications, laser treatment or filtering surgical procedures with different levels of success and complications.

Selective Laser Trabeluloplasty (SLT) is an advanced glaucoma laser technology that is effective in more than 80% of glaucoma cases by successfully reducing the eye pressures to normal levels.

It is a painless procedure using laser light to enhance the flow of excess water out of the eye and thus keeping the eye pressures lowered. The treatment takes only some few minutes and the benefits last 3-4years after which it can be repeated.

By starting SLT laser treatment in Ghana, St. Thomas is once again setting the pace in leveraging technology to improve eye care in Ghana and this is especially so in the context of Glaucoma which accounts for on of every five people permanently blind in Ghana.

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