Mayor gets all-clear on tunnel vision

Dick Hubbard learns he is free of glaucoma from specialist Associate Professor Helen Danesh-Meyer. Picture / Brett Phibbs

When Auckland Mayor Dick Hubbard was told yesterday he was free of the eye disease glaucoma, he also learned he has an important political skill: side vision.

"Is my peripheral vision good enough to detect back-stabbing," asked Mr Hubbard, who has had to watch carefully for political knives.

"I'm sure it is," said optometrist Roger Apperley.

He had just performed the three standard glaucoma tests on the 58-year-old mayor, one of which is of peripheral vision.

Mr Hubbard is among more than 60 local body leaders having their eyes tested for glaucoma in a campaign by Glaucoma New Zealand to promote awareness of the condition.

A progressive disease which damages the optic nerve, it is New Zealand's leading cause of preventable blindness. It affects 2 per cent of those over 40 and 10 per cent of over-70s.

Auckland University glaucoma specialist Associate Professor Helen Danesh-Meyer said it was a "silent" disease, usually without initial symptoms.

"It affects your side vision. It slowly creeps in and you only have tunnel vision."

She recommended people over 40 have their eyes tested every four years; more often if they wore glasses or had a family history of glaucoma.

John Bishop, a 56-year-old North Shore accountant, lost a significant amount of peripheral vision to glaucoma, although the deterioration was halted by eye drops. It was discovered in a check-up after surgery for short-sightedness.

"Playing golf in back-light or looking into the sun, I have difficulty picking up the ball in the sky, and with night driving in heavy rain I have to be extra vigilant."

Treatment for many patients was about to improve because Pharmac was easing subsidy restrictions on more effective new eye drops, said Professor Danesh-Meyer.