What is glaucoma a disease?

  Glaucoma is an eye disease that damages the optic nerve, shrinking the visual field and eventually leading to irreversible blindness, often accompanied by increased intraocular pressure.  The main symptoms of glaucoma include headache, dizziness, eye pain, eye swelling, visual haziness, and iris vision. In acute attacks, there may be a rapid loss of vision or even light perception, combined with nausea, vomiting, chills and fever.  There are many factors that contribute to the development of glaucoma, including the structure of the eye itself, genetic factors, neurovascular factors and environmental factors. The early stage of the disease is easily ignored because there are no obvious symptoms, and when symptoms such as eye pain and vision loss appear, the disease may have progressed to an advanced stage.  It has been reported that 50% of patients in developed countries and up to 90% of patients in developing countries are not aware that they have glaucoma. Therefore, early screening, early diagnosis and early treatment are effective ways to avoid glaucoma blindness.