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Clinic instals instrument to detect retinal nerve fibre layer damage

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, MAY 20. An instrument that can detect damage to retinal nerve fibre and help diagnose glaucoma before it can create irreversible damage is now available in the city.

The instrument, Glaucoma Diagnostic Variable Corneal Compensator (GDx VCC), analyses retinal nerve fibre and helps ophthalmologists prevent blindness due to glaucoma.

A delicate tissue at the back of the eye through the optic nerve transmits visual signals from the eye to the brain. The retinal nerve fibre layer is the earliest tissue to be damaged in glaucoma, diabetes and other disorders, leading to blindness.

At birth, human eyes are estimated to have 1.4 million nerve fibres. With age, about 4,000 to 5,000 nerve fibres are lost every year. Glaucoma and other disorders accelerate this drop but it is never felt until the loss of vision is considerable. GDx VCC will allow doctors to perceive the drop and stem the loss. The instrument uses infrared laser to measure the thickness of the retinal nerve fibre layer.

N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu group of publications, commissioned the diagnostic machine, the first of its kind in the State, on Wednesday. Mr. Ram congratulated Prems' Eye Clinic for installing the machine. He drew parallels with cricket where too new technology like third umpire had improved decision-making, though it did not rule out the human factor. Though the condition in State-run hospitals might seem impossible, "if we look beneath the surface, there is tremendous talent that we should celebrate."

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