Health Conditions

What is it?

Glaucoma is an eye disease that is caused by an increase in intraocular pressure (IOP) -- this pressure gives the eyeball its round shape. The increase in IOP results from a change in the eye's ability to drain aqueous humor, the fluid circulating inside the eye.

There are two general types of glaucoma - open-angle and closed-angle (the angle refers to the point where the muscles responsible for keeping the pores open that drain the fluid meet).

The most common type is open-angle glaucoma (accounts for 90% of glaucoma cases); it is the leading cause of blindness in people of African-American descent. Normally, open-angle glaucoma is a slowly progressive (or chronic) disease that produces no obvious symptoms until its late stages. Although it usually occurs in both eyes, the disease may progress faster in one eye than the other. A smaller percentage of people develop closed-angle glaucoma, which is typically acute (occurs more suddenly) and associated with a red, swollen, and painful eye. It is usually the result of a blockage of the pores that drain eye fluid and should be treated immediately to remove the blockage to help avoid permanent vision loss.

<< Back

What causes it? >>