Kumale Tolesa Daba
Jimma University , Ethiopia
Title: The role of central corneal thickness measurment in the clinical evaluation of glaucoma
Biography
Biography: Kumale Tolesa Daba
Abstract
Glaucoma is a group of diseases that have in common a characteristic optic neuropathy with associated visual function loss. The different types of glaucoma were calculated to be responsible for 15% of blindness, placing glaucoma as the second leading cause of blindness worldwide, following cataract. Elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) is one of the primary risk factor. The other risk factors of glaucoma are: central corneal thickness, vascular dysregulation, systemic blood pressure and old age (40 years and above). The role of central corneal thickness (CCT) measurement in the clinical evaluation of glaucoma is well established. CCT is believed to influence the intraocular pressure (IOP) measured through the cornea with an overestimation in thicker corneas and an underestimation in thinner ones. There are also suggestions of the influence of CCT that is not tonometry-related, having thin CCT associated with development and progression of glaucoma. Corneal thickness is among the most highly heritable aspect of ocular structures, suggesting that the gene(s) controlling this ocular structure may vary among populations. Comparison of measurements from a range of ethnic groups has provided strong evidence that ethnicity influences CCT. Corneas of black Africans and African Americans are reported to be thinner than that of Caucasians. While patients with ocular hypertension (OHT) generally have thicker corneas than normal, there is a conflicting report in the literature, on the differences of CCT among different glaucoma sub-types.