About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Definition
By Mayo Clinic staff
Glaucoma is not just one eye disease, but a group of eye conditions resulting in optic nerve damage, which causes loss of vision. Abnormally high pressure inside your eye (intraocular pressure) usually, but not always, causes this damage.
Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness. Sometimes called the silent thief of sight, glaucoma can damage your vision so gradually you may not notice any loss of vision until the disease is at an advanced stage. The most common type of glaucoma, primary open-angle glaucoma, has no noticeable signs or symptoms except gradual vision loss.
Early diagnosis and treatment can minimize or prevent optic nerve damage and limit glaucoma-related vision loss. It's important to get your eyes examined regularly, and make sure your eye doctor measures your intraocular pressure.
- Ramulu P, et al. Glaucoma. In: Yanoff M, et al, eds. Ophthalmology. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby; 2008. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/201760123-9/0/1869/522.html?tocnode=56525066&fromURL=522.html#4-u1.0-B978-0-323-04332-8..X0001-7--p10_4129. Accessed May 21, 2010.
- Traynor MP, et al. Glaucoma. In: Bope ET, et al. Conn's Current Therapy 2010. 61st ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2009. http://www.mdconsult.com/book/player/book.do?method=display&type=bookPage&decorator=header&eid=4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-6642-2..00003-X--sc0030&uniq=201760123&isbn=978-1-4160-6642-2. Accessed May 21, 2010.
- Ferri FF. Primary angle-closure. In: Ferri FF. Ferri's Clinical Advisor 2010. St. Louis, Mo.: Mosby; 2009. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/201760123-10/1000369016/2088/265.html#4-u1.0-B978-0-323-05609-0..00016-2--sc0065_5445. Accessed May 21, 2010.
- Ferri FF. Glaucoma, Chronic Open-Angle. In: Ferri FF. Ferri's Clinical Advisor 2010. St. Louis, Mo.: Mosby; 2009. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/201760123-10/1000369016/2088/264.html#4-u1.0-B978-0-323-05609-0..00016-2--sc0060_5420. Accessed May 21, 2010.
- Facts about glaucoma. National Eye Institute. http://www.nei.nih.gov/health/glaucoma/glaucoma_facts.asp. Accessed May 21, 2010.
- Care of the patient with open angle glaucoma. St. Louis, MO: American Optometric Association. http://www.aoa.org/documents/CPG-9.pdf. Accessed May 21, 2010.
- Are you at risk for glaucoma? Glaucoma Research Foundation. http://www.glaucoma.org/learn/are_you_at_risk.php. Accessed May 21, 2010.
- Jacobs DS. Primary open-angle glaucoma. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed May 21, 2010.
- Alternative medicine. Glaucoma Research Foundation. http://www.glaucoma.org/treating/alternative_med.php. Accessed May 21, 2010.
- Eye drops delay onset of glaucoma in people at higher risk. National Eye Institute. http://www.nei.nih.gov/news/pressreleases/061302.asp. Accessed May 21, 2010.
- Glaucoma support group. Glaucoma Service Foundation to Prevent Blindness. http://www.willsglaucoma.org/support.htm. Accessed May 21, 2010.
- Common glaucoma treatments. National Glaucoma Research. http://www.ahaf.org/glaucoma/treatment/common/. Accessed May 21, 2010.
- Robertson DM (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. May 30, 2010.
Find Mayo Clinic on