Glaucoma

Glaucoma is the name for a group of eye diseases that damage the optic nerve. This nerve carries information from the eye to the brain. When the nerve is damaged, you can lose your vision.

Glaucoma is one of the most common causes of legal blindness in the world. At first, people with glaucoma lose side (peripheral) vision. But if the disease isn't treated, vision loss may get worse. It can lead to total blindness over time.

It can affect both eyes or just one eye at a time. Or you can be born with it.

There are three types of glaucoma.

• Open-angle glaucoma (OAG) is the most common form in the United States and Canada. (In other parts of the world, it's less common.) It usually affects both eyes at the same time. Your vision gradually gets worse. But it gets worse so slowly that you may not notice it.
• Closed-angle glaucoma (CAG) isn't very common in the U.S. and Canada. It usually affects one eye at a time. CAG can happen suddenly and be a medical emergency.
• Congenital glaucoma is a rare form of glaucoma that some infants have at birth. Some children and young adults can also get a type of the disease.