The main symptoms of the disease that leads to blindness

Glaucoma is a group of ophthalmological diseases that can lead to reduced visual acuity or blindness. In glaucoma, the intraocular pressure increases, the outflow of aqueous humor worsens, and the optic nerve is damaged.

Glaucoma can lead to vision loss if not diagnosed and treated early. The disease can affect people of all ages, but most often it occurs in the elderly. The danger is that initially glaucoma usually causes obvious symptoms, writes the National Health Service of England (National Health Service).

The disease tends to develop slowly over many years and first affects the peripheral vision. Therefore, many people do not realize that they have glaucoma, and it is often discovered only during a vision test for another reason.

Experts include blurred vision and iridescent halos around light sources as signs of glaucoma. Sometimes glaucoma can cause:

• pain in the eyes;
• redness of the eyes;
• headache and nausea;
• deterioration of vision in low light.

Who is at risk?

Some factors can increase the risk of developing glaucoma, doctors explain. Such factors include:

• Summer age.
• Heredity (if any of the close relatives had glaucoma).
• Myopia, farsightedness.
• The presence of other diseases, in particular diabetes.