Let me start here by telling you a true story. A few days ago, an old head of mine came to see me because of a friend’s business. During the conversation, I noticed that his left eye was a little red. When I asked him what was wrong with his eye, he said, “I was thinking of going to see you when you are out of the specialist’s clinic, because in the past two days my left eye has been blurred. I rushed to take his IOP. I rushed to take his IOP and the result was 66.23mmHg, almost three times the normal IOP range. After I gave him emergency treatment, he was admitted to the hospital that night. In fact, he was diagnosed with “chronic open-angle glaucoma” in both eyes after a checkup in 1980, but had no bad feeling before that. Before he became my patient, he had been taking “Thimerosene Eye Solution” for more than 20 years without any interruption, but he had never had his eye pressure checked. We met back in the early 1990s when we were at Base 21, but he never saw me. It was not until 2002 when he inadvertently noticed that the visual field of his right eye had shrunk that he came to see me, and I learned that he was a glaucoma patient. Although the vision in both eyes was normal at that time, the glaucoma in the right eye was advanced judging from the change in the visual field. The old chief’s right eye was surgically treated to preserve the remaining tubular visual field, and the left eye was adjusted with medication and the intraocular pressure was well controlled. For 6 years, he has been able to come to the hospital regularly to have his IOP and visual field checked, and he had his IOP rechecked a month ago when his left eye pressure went out of control again. Fortunately, it was detected early and the surgery was performed in time without serious adverse consequences. Glaucoma is a serious eye disease that causes damage to the optic nerve and visual field defects because the pressure in the eye exceeds what the optic nerve and other tissues in the eye can tolerate, and there can be no symptoms in the early stages. The story above tells us two things. First, most chronic glaucoma is insidious and progresses slowly, often unnoticed, and by the time patients notice visual abnormalities, the disease is already at an advanced stage. This is why it has been said that “glaucoma is the invisible killer of human visual health”. Second, once you know you have glaucoma, even if you make friends with your eye doctor, it is essential to have your eye pressure and visual field checked regularly. Visual field changes, or visual field defects, are characteristic of glaucoma. Typical glaucomatous visual field defects include paracentral dark spot, arcuate or bowed dark spot, nasal step, and tubular visual field or temporal visual island. The tubular visual field or temporal visual island may remain in place for a considerable period of time, and vision may be suddenly lost as the disease progresses. Here, I would like to tell you a few general facts about glaucoma: Over the course of a person’s life, intraocular pressure rises gradually in even healthy eyes. This is due to the aging of the atrial fluid drainage system of the eye. Therefore, the higher the age, the greater the chance of glaucoma. If there is a glaucoma patient in the family, it is important for the rest of the family to have regular eye exams. If there are multiple glaucoma patients in a family, it is best to start eye exams for other family members when they are 20 to 30 years old, and not later than 30 to 40 years old. The chance of acute closed-angle glaucoma is higher in farsighted people, but nearsighted people are more likely to have glaucomatous optic nerve damage with the same intraocular pressure; early diagnosis of glaucoma is very important, but early diagnosis is actually difficult to achieve because: ① the diagnosis of glaucoma is often possible only when the patient is seen; ② early changes in glaucoma are usually not easily distinguished from normal variants and require more frequent (ii) usually early changes in glaucoma are not easily distinguished from normal variants and require more frequent observation and follow-up to confirm or exclude the diagnosis. Therefore, the presence or absence of glaucoma cannot be determined by only two or three examinations in patients with suspected glaucoma, which is not the same as ruling out the possibility of glaucoma. Therefore, doctors recommend: ① you should get an eye exam whenever you have visual problems; ② you should get an eye exam at the age of 40 even if you don’t have any symptoms or a family history of glaucoma; ③ you should get an eye exam as soon as possible when you have symptoms, a family history or other risk factors. Your ophthalmologist will quickly tell you if glaucoma is a possibility. If there are certain signs of glaucoma, your doctor will have you undergo tests to confirm or rule out the disease, and if glaucoma is diagnosed, the next step needs to be to clarify the extent of the damage. Although glaucoma is a serious eye disease that can cause blindness, after timely and effective treatment, patients can drive a car and lead a normal life as normal as long as they do not have severe visual field defects. Since there is a relationship between changes in intraocular pressure and the size of the pupil, patients with glaucoma should try to avoid activities in dim light, such as watching movies in the cinema, watching TV at home without turning on the lights, etc. When having an eye exam, inform your doctor that you are a glaucoma patient and decide whether to do a dilated pupil exam at your discretion. In addition, patients with glaucoma who suffer from other systemic diseases should avoid using atropine-based and nitroglycerin-based drugs to prevent triggering glaucoma. In terms of diet, less oily and high-fat foods should be consumed. It is important to emphasize that patients with glaucoma must strictly follow the treatment protocol and regular review of IOP and visual field. When the IOP is stable, the IOP can usually be measured once a month; when both IOP and visual field are stable, the visual field can usually be measured once every six months or once a year.