Glaucoma – The Silent Thief of Sight

Glaucoma is a disease that damages the eye’s optic nerve. If you have glaucoma, the aqueous humour does not flow out of the eye properly. Fluid pressure in the eye increases and puts stress on the ganglion cells as they turn into the optic nerve.

Glaucoma has been called the “silent thief of sight” because the loss of vision often occurs gradually over a long period of time, and symptoms only occur when the disease is quite advanced. Once lost, vision cannot normally be recovered, so treatment is aimed at preventing further loss. Worldwide, glaucoma is the second-leading cause of blindness after cataracts.

It is also the leading cause of blindness among African Americans. Glaucoma affects one in 200 people aged 50 and younger, and one in 10 over the age of eighty. If the condition is detected early enough, it is possible to arrest the development or slow the progression with medical and surgical means.

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