Glaucoma, one of the two leading causes of blindness within the United States, is an eye disease in which the optic nerve is damaged. This prevents the visual message from being sent from the eye to the brain and leads to eventual blindness unless it is recognized and treated. Most persons with glaucoma have a chronic form that slowly causes loss of vision. This is often so slow that the patient may not even realize it. Other glaucoma patients have a more sudden form that causes a rapid onset of pain and loss of vision.
Most glaucoma is treated with eye drops to lower the eye pressure.
Regular eye exams are the only way to check for glaucoma. If you are over forty years old it is recommended that you have an eye examination every two years. As you get older, glaucoma is more likely to occur. Therefore, if you are over sixty-five years old, you should have your eyes examined every year. Using specialized instruments, most of them developed at UCSD, your eye doctor can test for glaucoma and other visual problems.