Glaucoma is a disease usually associated with elevated intraocular pressure and if left untreated can cause progressive loss or damage to the optic nerve with eventual blindness. Open angle glaucoma is the most common of all the glaucomas in the United States accounting for up to 70% of all cases of glaucoma. Up to as many as 1% of the population over age 40 in the United States may have open angle glaucoma. It typically occurs in patients over age 50 but can occur in a younger age group. The risk of developing glaucoma increases with each decade of life to about a 15% chance of developing glaucoma over age 80. Older individuals are also more likely to develop serious damage from glaucoma as well. Primary open angle glaucoma occurs more frequently in blacks than in whites. Fifteen percent of the blindness in the United States is due to glaucoma and it is the most common cause of blindness in Afro-Americans and the third most common cause of blindness in Caucasians.

There is a higher chance of developing glaucoma if there is a family history. Relatives of patients who have glaucoma have a six times higher chance of developing glaucoma then those in the general population.

Patients who have open angle glaucoma usually have no symptoms until the late stages in which there is a decrease loss of vision in the periphery and eventually the fine vision , or central vision, is effected. It is referred to as a silent disease because most patients do not notice any symptoms until permanent damage has occurred. However, if it is detected early then treatment can be initiated that will prevent irreversible damage.

Associated conditions with high risk of developing glaucoma are patients who are highly nearsighted or myopic. Patients with diabetes mellitus also have a higher chance of developing open angle glaucoma as well as those patients who have cardiovascular problems perhaps due to poor circulation to the optic nerve.

The goal of treatment is to reduce the intraocular pressure to an appropriate range. Generally this can be achieved by the use of eye drops. Some of these drops work by enhancing the drainage of fluid from the eye and others achieve their affect by reducing the production of aqueous in the eye. In some patients who do not respond to topical drops then laser surgery, known as laser trabecularplasty, is used to lower the pressure. Some patients who continue to have elevated pressures will require a surgical procedure known as a filtering procedure.