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Glaucoma is a series of diseases that damage the nerves at the back of the eye. These nerves send visual information to the brain. When these nerves are damaged, blindness can result. It used to be believed that glaucoma was a disorder associated with pressure in the eye, characterized by damage to the optic nerve, with consequent visual loss, initially just effecting your peripheral vision, but progressing to blindness. But research has proven that damage can occur even when the pressure is in normal range. In fact, the Baltimore Eye Survey established that only one in ten people with high eye pressure will go on to develop glaucoma. Only a complete eye exam with dilated pupils can detect glaucoma.

Unfortunately, glaucoma is usually a disease in which the patient is entirely asymptomatic (without symptoms) until late in the disease. The disorder we refer to as glaucoma, is not a single disease, but rather a general name for a number of diseases with one final common insult, injury to the optic nerve.  Glaucoma damage cannot be reversed, but diagnosis can preserve the patient's present level of vision.

According to the CDC and FDA, glaucoma affects 3 million Americans, and half of those people are unaware they have the disease. Approximately 5 to 10 million Americans have elevated eye pressure, which can, in certain cases, place them at risk for the development of glaucoma, the Eye Institute has stated. Currently, there are eighty thousand Americans blind from the disease. African-Americans have a five-fold greater risk of developing glaucoma and, in this population, it is the single most common cause of irreversible blindness. Latinos have a four-fold increase after age 65.

Pressure Not the Whole Story

In recent years, it has been shown that at least one-third of glaucoma patients have eye pressures in the "normal range", which is 10 to 21mm Hg. This information has challenged traditional thought that glaucoma is a disorder of high eye pressure. There are consequently multiple theories regarding the cause of glaucoma. Besides eye pressure, perfusion (blood flow) of the optic nerve, mechanical factors in and around the optic nerve itself, and biochemical factors also probably play a role. Most ophthalmologists believe that patients with sustained eye pressures in the high 20's or above will eventually develop glaucoma but there is no level of pressure at which glaucoma never occurs. This is one of the most difficult concepts for glaucoma patients to understand, i.e., that glaucoma may not only occur but may progress in the face of a "normal pressure." Glaucoma is much more complex than most patients would like to believe. This very fact is the reason that glaucoma sub-specialist ophthalmologists have an additional one to two years of fellowship training beyond the three to four years of general ophthalmology residency training.

Become an active participant in preventing glaucoma

Make sure you know your eye pressures and your optic nerve cup-to-disk ratios. Currently, the American government only earmarks $60 million dollars for all eye-care research. More than 45 million Americans have no healthcare at all and millions more have minimal care. That’s why it is up to you to help manage your heath. Hopefully this site will convince you to start taking your vision seriously. The administration is a close ally of the super-profitable pharmaceutical industry. It trusts private enterprise to deliver public health and has reduced regulation and funding on preventative eye research. Meanwhile, the industry has become ever more profitable and more interested in making blockbuster, copycat drugs for ills like indigestion, arthritis, and male impotence rather than long term research for eye health. As a result, fewer companies are involved in research to prevent the devastation of glaucoma.