Question

My father had a glaucoma surgery at the Northern Hospital over 20 years ago and is now 69 years old. He currently has only one eye with a vision of 0.25, and the other eye is completely blind. The eye that had the surgery recently measured normal intraocular pressure on November 12th, with vision still at 0.25. Now, during the day, he seems to see things with a foggy sensation, is sensitive to light, and takes several minutes to recover vision when entering a dark place. Sometimes his eyes briefly turn white before returning to normal. Do I need another surgery? If not, what good medications can make his vision clear and prevent the disease from worsening? Will not undergoing surgery lead to complete blindness? Thank you for your response.

Answer

Based on your description of the condition, this is a normal dark adaptation phenomenon in the eye, but since the elderly have poor vision, it’s best to have a regular ophthalmological examination at a hospital to rule out cataracts, fundus diseases, and other possibilities. Generally speaking, if there has been a decrease in vision due to optic nerve atrophy caused by glaucoma, there is no particularly effective treatment method at present; only management can be used to prevent further deterioration of vision.