Eye condition · Eye diseases
Glaucoma
Glaucoma damages the optic nerve and steals side vision without early warning signs. Learn who is at risk, how it is found and how treatment protects sight.
Get help the same day if you have
- Sudden severe eye pain with a red eye
- Blurred vision with halos around lights
- Headache, nausea or vomiting along with eye pain
Call an eye doctor now or go to an emergency department. Eye emergencies guide
What it is
Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that damage the optic nerve, the cable that carries images from the eye to the brain. Damage is often linked to raised pressure inside the eye, but not always. It usually affects side (peripheral) vision first and spreads slowly toward the center.
Symptoms
Open-angle glaucoma, the most common type, has no symptoms early on. There is no pain, and vision seems normal until a lot of nerve damage has happened. Many people do not know they have it.
Angle-closure glaucoma can come on suddenly when fluid suddenly cannot drain from the eye. It causes severe eye pain, redness, blurred vision, halos, headache and nausea. This is an emergency.
Who is at risk
- Everyone over 60
- People with a parent or sibling with glaucoma
- Black and African American people over 40, and Hispanic and Latino people over 60, according to the National Eye Institute
- People with diabetes, high nearsightedness, a past eye injury or long-term steroid use
How it is diagnosed
A comprehensive dilated eye exam looks at the optic nerve. Tests can include eye pressure (tonometry), a visual field test, corneal thickness and an OCT scan of the nerve fibres. Screening for eye pressure alone is not enough.
Treatment
Treatment lowers eye pressure to protect the optic nerve:
- Eye drops, used every day
- Laser treatment, such as selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT), which helps fluid drain
- Surgery, including minimally invasive glaucoma surgery, trabeculectomy and drainage implants
Taking drops exactly as prescribed is the most important part. Short explainers from eye doctors are in our video library.
Prevention
You cannot prevent glaucoma, but you can prevent much of the vision loss it causes. If you are at higher risk, have a dilated eye exam every one to two years, or as your eye doctor recommends.
Watch
Questions people ask
Can glaucoma be cured?
No, and lost vision cannot be restored. But treatment that lowers eye pressure slows or stops further damage, which is why early diagnosis matters so much.
Can you have glaucoma with normal eye pressure?
Yes. Some people develop optic nerve damage at normal pressures, and others have high pressure without damage. That is why a full exam checks the optic nerve and visual field, not only pressure.