Eye health resource
Glaucoma: Risk Factors, Types, Testing, and Treatment
An evidence-based overview of glaucoma, including common risk factors, major forms, why early disease can be symptom-free, how glaucoma is evaluated, and how treatment is approached.
Reviewed for accuracy by Justin Bazan, OD on .
Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that damage the optic nerve and can cause permanent vision loss. The damage is often associated with pressure inside the eye, but glaucoma cannot be diagnosed or ruled out from an eye-pressure reading alone.
Why is glaucoma easy to miss?
The most common forms of glaucoma usually develop gradually and may cause no noticeable symptoms early on. Peripheral vision can be affected before a person realizes anything is wrong. That is why risk assessment and examination of the optic nerve are important, particularly for people with higher-risk features.
Who is at higher risk?
Risk varies from person to person. Important factors can include increasing age, family history of glaucoma, elevated eye pressure, certain optic-nerve findings, thinner corneas, high myopia, some medical conditions, prior eye injury, and long-term corticosteroid exposure. An individual risk assessment is more useful than relying on any single factor.
What are the major types of glaucoma?
Primary open-angle glaucoma is the most common form in the United States and typically progresses slowly. Angle-closure glaucoma involves narrowing or closure of the drainage angle of the eye. Some angle-closure disease is chronic, while an uncommon acute attack can cause sudden severe symptoms and requires emergency evaluation. Other forms include secondary glaucomas related to eye disease, injury, medications, or other conditions.
How is glaucoma evaluated?
No single test tells the whole story. A glaucoma evaluation may include measurement of eye pressure, careful examination and imaging of the optic nerves, assessment of the drainage angle and corneal thickness when appropriate, OCT imaging, and visual-field testing. The exact combination depends on the person's findings and level of risk.
At Park Slope Eye, medical eye evaluations can include optic-nerve assessment and OCT when clinically appropriate. Patients who need testing, treatment, or specialty management beyond our scope may be referred or co-managed with an ophthalmologist.
How is glaucoma treated?
Treatment is aimed at lowering the risk of further optic-nerve damage, most often by reducing eye pressure. Depending on the type and severity of glaucoma, treatment can include prescription eye drops, laser procedures, surgery, or a combination. The appropriate target pressure and treatment plan are individualized by the treating clinician.
Glaucoma treatment manages risk and slows progression; it does not restore vision already lost from optic-nerve damage. Ongoing follow-up is important because treatment may need to change over time.
When is glaucoma urgent?
Most glaucoma does not present as an emergency. However, sudden severe eye pain, marked redness, blurred vision or halos, headache, nausea, or vomiting can occur with an acute angle-closure attack and warrants immediate emergency evaluation.
For routine glaucoma risk assessment or monitoring, learn more about medical eye care at Park Slope Eye.