Use of steroid or bleaching creams by humans for beautification has been cited as one of the main causes of glaucoma in humans, Member of Parliament (MP) for Offinso North in the Ashanti region and ranking member on the Health Committee of Parliament, Collins Augustine Ntim, has stated.
According to him, certain chemicals used in the production of these creams when continually applied to the skin, get assimilated into the blood vessels and lead to the development of the disease.
�The use of steroids in bleaching are potential cause of glaucoma [but] how many Ghanaians know this�some chemicals in these creams affect and damage the optic nerve thereby causing blindness,� the MP said in an interview with Today.
Blindness arising from glaucoma, the MP added, is incurable because the disease affects the optic nerve of humans thus causing permanent damage to the major tissue.
Thus in a statement on the floor of Parliament to mark the annual day of the disease, the MP who was astonished by the number of people who are affected by the disease annually called for a national recognition to be given the day as the independent celebrations have swept its celebrations aside.
The disease which symptoms include blurred vision, periodic blinking of the eye and the occasional blindness of one eye, according to Hon. Ntim has affected some 600,000 Ghanaians with the world figure continually soaring.
The MP also called on Ghanaians, especially people with family history of the disease, to always have periodic check-ups for the disease which he said can be caused by aging as well.
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