Glaucoma is one of the most common eye disorder in people with 60 or above age. In this condition optic nerves which are essential for good vision gets damaged. Mostly this damage is caused due to abnormal and high pressure in the eyes. This eye disorder has become a leading cause of blindness in the United States.

Glaucoma comes with no evident warning signs. It advances so slow that many a times its only diagnosed at its advanced stage. Therefore, its recommended to consider regular eye exams that can measure the pressure in your eyes as glaucoma in its preliminary phase can be prevented or slowed.

Risk Factors Associated with Glaucoma

Precaution is always better than cure and being aware of what can cause any chronic disease is sensibility. Here are some common factors that may increase your tendency of increased eye pressure and reach the risk of getting glaucoma:

Aging: People at 60 or above age are considered to be at high risk of developing glaucoma. However, the early signs and symptoms of the disease can be identified after you cross the age of 40.

Elevated Eye Pressure: As glaucoma is directly related to internal eye pressure, it’s essential to keep the eye pressure in the standard range. Most ophthalmologists recommend a range of natural intraocular pressure (IOP) to be between 10 to 21 mm Hg. So, if you are diagnosed with elevated pressure than 21 mm Hg, then make sure you consult your doctor for its treatment.

Family History: Yeah! Heredity may have a vital role in acquiring this disease. Therefore, you must keep the necessary precautions if anyone in your family already had developed the problem of glaucoma in the past.

Medical Conditions: Few studies have concluded that diabetes may increase the risk of developing glaucoma, so do heart diseases and blood pressure. Some medical studies have indicated that a person dealing with high or low blood pressure are at risk of losing their vision due to glaucoma. As a patient with high blood pressure may lead to chronic hypertension and it this hypertension is over-treated, the optic nerves may get damaged.

Physical injuries to the eye: Intense and unfortunate injuries may be caused after being hit in the eye. Such critical traumas can develop high pressure in the eye and may cause internal harm to the optic nerve. There exist a chance of dislocation of lens, increasing pressure, and closing of drainage angle in some terrible wounds.

Common Symptoms of Glaucoma

There are two types of glaucoma, which have distinctive types of symptoms associated with them:

Acute-angle closure glaucoma

• Eye redness

• Eye pain

• A severe Headache

• Halos around lights

• Blurred Vision

• Nausea and vomiting

Open-angle glaucoma

• Patchy blind spots in the peripheral sight or central vision

• Frequent blind spots

• Tunnel vision in advanced stages

Leaving glaucoma untreated can eventually cause blindness. Additionally, 15% of people suffering from glaucoma lose their vision in one eye within 20 years.