What is glaucoma?

Glaucoma is a group of diseases that progressively damage the optic nerve, the structure responsible for carrying visual information from the eye to the brain. In most cases, this damage is related to elevated intraocular pressure, although it can also occur with pressures within the normal range.

What makes glaucoma particularly delicate is that optic nerve damage is irreversible: once nerve fibers are lost, they don't recover. That's why the goal of treatment is never to "cure" glaucoma, but to stop or slow its progression before it significantly affects vision.

There are different types of glaucoma — open-angle, closed-angle, congenital, secondary to other diseases — and each requires a different diagnostic and therapeutic approach. That's why evaluation by a specialized ophthalmologist is the first step.