Glaucoma is referred as a "silent blinding disease" or the "sneak thief of sight". To spread awareness about the disease, World Glaucoma Week (WGW) is being observed from March 11 to March 17 this year. The theme for WGW 2018 is “Green: Go get your eyes tested for Glaucoma. Save Your Sight!” As a major collaboration between the World Glaucoma Association and the World Glaucoma Patient Association, this series of activities globally alerts people to have regular eye (and optic nerve) checks to detect glaucoma earlier, thus contributing to sight preservation.

This morning (March 20), a large-scale voluntary medical consultation for eye diseases was organized by Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center (ZOC) at Zhujiang New Town Campus, which is newly built. More than 25 specialists from glaucoma service and other departments (specialties) has attended this even and received around 700 patients with glaucoma or other eye issues.

On-site, professor Jian Ge described glaucoma as the “silent thief of sight” and wants to ensure people are tested for glaucoma before symptoms appear. He encourages people who wear glasses, people over 40 (and those who have a family history of glaucoma) to have their eyes tested regularly by their ophthalmologist or optometrist, who can screen for glaucoma.