Get tested says glaucoma sufferer

6:10am Monday 5th May 2008

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A FORMER Oxford City Council senior officer fears many people in Oxfordshire could be risking blindness without knowing it.

Peter Nixson, 85, from Headington, was in charge of the council's town clerk's department from 1955 until 1983, when he retired.

An eye test in 1990 found he was suffering from the incurable eye disease glaucoma.

Last year, he had to give up his driving licence, because of the effects of condition. Now he is urging the over-40s to take regular eye tests, or risk the same fate.

Mr Nixson said: "I was only diagnosed with glaucoma when I went for an eye test for new spectacles and tested positive for three of the glaucoma tests.

"By that time, a lot of damage had already been done to the optic nerve in each of my eyes. I take my hat off to the consultant ophthalmic surgeon and his team at the Oxford Eye Hospital, who prevented any significant progression of the disease.

"But the hardest blow was losing my driving licence last year, as my wife Cicely has rheumatoid arthritis and mobility problems.

"I was able to drive for 60 years. Now we have to rely on taxis and buses and have lost a lot of our quality of life."

Glaucoma is the leading cause of preventable blindness in the UK.

The condition is usually caused by a build-up of pressure within the eye, which damages the optic nerve.

About two per cent of the population over 40 have glaucoma, but half are undiagnosed and in danger of irreversible sight loss.

Mr Nixson said: "I have learned a lot about my condition through the International Glaucoma Association and was shocked just how many people are at risk.

"Although you can't cure glaucoma, the earlier you catch it, the easier it is to treat it. That's why I would like to encourage people over 40 in Oxfordshire to take regular eye tests.

"If only I had had my eyes tested earlier, I might still be driving today."

It is rare to suffer any pain or symptoms with glaucoma. If you have the condition and start to lose sight, one eye will compensate for the other, often preventing detection of the disease until it is too late.

National Glaucoma Awareness Week runs from June 9-15 and encourages everyone over the age of 40 to have an eye test which includes all three glaucoma tests - opthalmoscopy, tonometry and perimetry - once every two years.

For more information, see www.iga.org.uk