Dr. Kshitija. P. Wali, Dr. Kalyani Vijaya Kumari, Dr. Vidya Chelerkar, Dr. (Col) Madan Deshpande
Glaucoma causes irreversible blindness and needs early treatment.As it needs longterm treatment,compliance becomes a problem.
Prospective study of 100 patients in 40-80 years of age.Patients were interviewed with printed questionaries includes age,education,duration of glaucoma,difficulty in instilling drops,medication regime,family history and knowledge about glaucoma.Results were analysed which showed 43% of patients on combination and 31% on monotherapy.57% patients were compliant.Females were more compliant(p=0.06).Patients above 50 years of age,less education,negative family history were non compliant(p<0.0001).Decreased memory with increased age,polytherapy,absence of assistance to instill drops and economic factors plays a role.22%developed ocular surface side-effects like redness and dryness.
conclusion- great effort is needed in patients education about disease,regular medications and creating reminders by maintaining diaries for follow up visits which improves the compliance