Glaucoma a scary condition that can sometimes take away an individuals sight before they realize anything's wrong. This condition is the leading cause of vision loss.

The most common form of glaucoma is called the primary open-angle glaucoma. Primary open-angle glaucoma develops gradually.  It gives no warning signs. Many people aren't even aware they have an eye problem until their eyesight starts to deteriorate significantly.
Glaucoma is not just one disease, but a cluster of them. The common feature of these diseases is damage to the optic nerve, usually accompanied by an unusually high pressure inside your eyeball.

The optic nerve is a collection of more than a million nerve fibers at the back of your eye. It's like an electric cable made up of thousands of individual wires carrying the images from the inside back wall of your eyeball (retina) to your brain. Blind spots develop in your visual field when the optic nerve deteriorates, usually starting with your side vision. If you don’t get medical treatment, glaucoma may lead to blindness in both eyes.

Medical technology has made it easier to diagnose and treat people with glaucoma. If the glaucoma is detected and treated early, the person may not experience severe los of eyesight. If you are diagnosed with glaucoma a you probably will have to get regular monitoring and treatment for the rest of your life.

Symptoms

Glaucoma occurs in several types, and signs and symptoms vary depending on the type of glaucoma you have.

Types:

Primary open-angle glaucoma.  Primary open-angle glaucoma progresses with few or no symptoms until the condition reaches a higher stage. As the increased eye pressure continues to damage your optic nerve, you lose more and more of your peripheral vision.  Peripheral vision is your side vision.  If glaucoma is left untouched, you can develop tunnel vision and eventually lose all your eyesight. Open-angle glaucoma usually affects both of your eyes. At first you may have vision loss in just one eye then it will affect the other eye.

Acute angle-closure glaucoma.  Acute angle-closure glaucoma begins all of a sudden in response to a rapid rise in eye pressure. Permanent loss of vision can happen in little as a day of the attack.  This type of glaucoma requires immediate medical attention. An attack often happens in the evening or in a dark room when the light is dim and your pupils have become relatively dilated. You may experience severe pain. Signs and symptoms include:

•    Blurred vision
•    Halos around lights
•    Reddening of the eye
•    Severe eye pain
•    Nausea and Vomiting

Both open-angle and angle-closure glaucoma can be primary or secondary conditions. They're called primary when the cause is unknown. They're called secondary when the condition can be traced to a cause that is known, such as an injury or an eye disease. Signs and symptoms of secondary glaucoma vary and depend on what's causing the glaucoma.
Risk factors
If the internal pressure in your eye (intraocular pressure) is higher than what's considered normal, you're at increased risk of developing glaucoma, though not everyone with elevated intraocular pressure develops the disease. This makes it difficult to predict who will get glaucoma.
Certain factors increase your risk of glaucoma. These factors are:

•    Age. Everyone older than 60 is at increased risk of the disorder. For Africans, the increase in risk becomes apparent earlier, after age of 40.
•    Family history of glaucoma. If you have a family history of glaucoma, you have a much greater risk of developing glaucoma. Glaucoma may have a genetic link.
•    Diabetes increases your risk of developing glaucoma
•    High Blood pressure
•    Heart disease
•    Physical injuries. Severe trauma, such as being hit in the eye, can result in increased eye pressure. Injury can also dislocate the lens, closing the drainage angle.
•    Retinal detachment
•    Eye tumors
•    Eye inflammations such as chronic uveitis and iritis.
•    Certain types of eye surgery also may trigger secondary glaucoma.
•    Nearsightedness. Being nearsighted, which generally means that objects in the distance look fuzzy without glasses or contacts, increases the risk of developing glaucoma.
•    Prolonged corticosteroid use. Using corticosteroids for prolonged periods of time appears to put you at risk of getting secondary glaucoma.
•    Eye abnormalities. Structural abnormalities of the eye can lead to secondary glaucoma. For example, pigmentary glaucoma is a form of secondary glaucoma caused by pigment granules being released from the back of the iris. These granules can block the trabecular meshwork.

Treatment

Glaucoma can't be cured, and damage caused by the disease can't be reversed. But with treatment, glaucoma can be controlled. Eye drops, oral medications and surgical procedures can prevent or slow further damage. 
Topical eye medications are the most common early treatment for glaucoma. Reducing the pressure in the eyes has been shown to reduce the progression of visual field loss.
Eye Surgery
Eye surgery is a common procedure, if medications are not effective.  Eye surgery is also an option if the glaucoma patient has difficulty in adhering to the medical therapy recommendations. The eye surgery is safe and effective treatment.

Eye drops

Glaucoma treatment often starts with medicated eye drops. Doctors prescribe several types of drops. Skipping even a few doses can cause damage to the optic nerve to worsen. Inform your doctor of all other medications you're taking, to avoid any side effects.
Oral medications

If eye drops alone don't bring your eye pressure down to the desired level, your doctor may also prescribe an oral medication such as pills.

Surgery

you may need surgery to treat glaucoma if you can't tolerate medications or if they're ineffective. Doctors use several types of surgery to treat glaucoma:

•    Laser surgery. This type of laser surgery is an office procedure that takes 10 to 20 minutes. You'll be given an Anesthetic eye drop, seated at a slit lamp and fitted with a special lens on your eye. The doctor aims the laser through the lens at the trabecular meshwork and applies burns to it. You will see bright flashes of light.  Usually, you can immediately resume normal activities without discomfort. The doctor will usually check your eye pressure one to two hours after the procedure and several times in the following weeks. It may take a few weeks before the full effect of the surgery becomes apparent.

•    Conventional surgery. This procedure is done in a hospital or an outpatient surgery center.

•    Drainage implants. Another type of operation, called drainage implant surgery, may be an option for people with secondary glaucoma or for children with glaucoma. Like the trabeculectomy, drainage implant surgery is performed at a hospital or an outpatient clinic. You'll receive medication to help you relax and eye drops and an Anesthetic to numb your eye. Then the doctor inserts a small silicone tube in your eye to help drain aqueous humor.  After the surgery you'll wear an eye patch for 24 hours and use eye drops for several weeks to fight infection and scarring. Your doctor will check your eyes several times in the weeks that follow.
Possible complications from glaucoma surgery may include infection, Bleeding, eye pressure that remains too high or too low, and, potentially, loss of vision. Having eye surgery may also speed up the development of cataracts. Most of these complications can be effectively treated.
Treating acute angle-closure glaucoma

Acute angle-closure glaucoma is a medical emergency. When you come in with this condition, doctors may administer several medications to reduce eye pressure as quickly as possible. You'll also likely have a laser procedure called iridotomy.