Exploring the quality of life in persons living with Glaucoma - A Qualitative Study

Glaucoma is a chronic, progressive optic neuropathy associated with a group of ocular conditions that damage the optic nerve head leading to visual field loss as damage progresses. The important part is a rise in intraocular pressure (IOP) that can lead to irreversible vision loss. Glaucoma is also known as the "sneak thief of sight" (Tandon R., 2019).Once loss of visual field is at an advanced stage, a point is reached at which loss of sight significantly impacts a glaucoma patient’s vision-related Quality of Life and mental condition. Quality of life (QOL) is an individual’s assessment of their position in life in the environment and value systems in which they live concerning their aim, hope, norms, and activity. It is a wide-ranging concept affected in a complex way by the person’s physical health, cerebral state, position of independence, social connections, particular beliefs and connections to their society. The Quality of life in cases of glaucoma can be affected in several ways, similar as due to reduced visual field and reduced visual perceptivity, economic issues similar as the cost of drugs, health centre visits, and mental goods on the Quality of life, including fear of blindness, anxiety, and depression. (Suresh Kumar et al., 2018). The significance of illness in glaucoma cases provides a theoretical base for perfecting the vision-related Quality of life in glaucoma cases according to cognitive mental interventions (Zhang Q et al., 2022).