Glaucoma is a group of diseases of the optic nerve involving loss of retinal ganglion cells in a characteristic pattern of optic neuropathy. Although raised intraocular pressure is a significant risk factor for developing glaucoma, there is no set threshold for intraocular pressure that causes glaucoma. One person may develop nerve damage at a relatively low pressure, while another person may have high eye pressure for years and yet never develop damage. Untreated glaucoma leads to permanent damage of the optic nerve and resultant visual field loss, which can progress to blindness.
Glaucoma has been nicknamed the "sneaky thief of sight" because the loss of visual field often occurs gradually over a long time and may only be recognized when it is already quite advanced. Once lost, this damaged visual field can never be recovered. Worldwide, it is the second leading cause of blindness. Glaucoma affects one in two hundred people aged fifty and younger, and one in ten over the age of eighty.
Normal Eyesight
Vision affected by glaucoma with darkened peripheral vision
Diabetics and those of African descent are three times more likely to develop primary open angle glaucoma. Higher age, thinner corneal thickness, and myopia are also risk factors for primary open angle glaucoma. People with a family history of glaucoma have about a six percent chance of developing glaucoma. Asians are prone to develop angle-closure glaucoma, and Inuit have a twenty to forty times higher risk than caucasians of developing primary angle closure glaucoma. Women are three times more likely than men to develop acute angle-closure glaucoma due to their shallower anterior chambers. Use of steroids can also cause glaucoma.
Primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) has been found to be associated with mutations in genes. Normal tension glaucoma, which comprises one third of POAG, is associated with these genetic mutations. There is increasing evidence of ocular blood flow to be involved in the pathogenesis of glaucoma. Current data indicate that fluctuations in blood flow are more harmful in glaucomatous optic neuropathy than steady reductions. Unstable blood pressure and dips are linked to optic nerve head damage and correlate with visual field deterioration.
This article sources material from the Wikipedia article "Glaucoma" and does not represent a clinical diagnosis and should be treated as a basic guide only.