I was lucky to have discovered it by chance. I have a long history as a full-time housewife and business owner, and because I have always been self-employed, I’ve never had a health check. My health insurance association offers a subsidized annual health check, so I thought, “I'll use it once in a while,” and applied for a full medical exam for the first time in about 10 years.
After the checkup, I was told to have a follow-up exam, so I went to a nearby ophthalmologist and was diagnosed with glaucoma. I knew that glaucoma could lead to blindness, but I had no subjective symptoms, so I was surprised and thought, “Why me?”
In addition to the fact that it is an incurable disease, and that treatment will continue for the rest of my life, I was shocked to learn that the treatment is eyedrops—usually when you think of treatment for a serious illness, you figure it’s going to be hospitalization and surgery, right? So, I was concerned, but the doctor told me, “Eye drops can be used to suppress symptom progression, so please don't worry,” and without giving me time to think about it, the treatment began that day.