Glaucoma

  • Glaucoma is progressive disease which causes permanent damages to
    • Papilla
    • Optic nerve
    • Optic field
  • Main risk factors of glaucoma
    • Increased IOP (=intra-ocular pressure)
    • Age
    • Family history of glaucoma
    • Exfoliation Syndrome
    • Myopia
  • Target of Glaucoma treatment
    • To prevent eye sight damage and blindness
  • So far the only treatment method is to lower IOP
  • Can gradually steal sight without any warning or symptoms
  • Incurable disease which can cause blindness if untreated
    • Blindness is ranked 3rd (after cancer + heart disease) as people's major fear
    • Glaucoma causes 9 - 12 % of all blindness
  • Early detection is vital to stop the progress of the disease, but vision lost cannot be regained
  • Most important, and only method to screen masses of population is rapid IOP measuring


Number of glaucoma patients
Share of population mmHg Glaucoma risk In Finland (population of 5,3 million) World wide
Normal IOP 90% 10–21 small
High IOP 10% 22–29 10–13 x Over
75 000		 Approx
67 million
(of which 6 million are blind)
30–35 40 x

In developed countries over 50% of the patients are undiagnosed