January is The National Glaucoma Awareness Month, an important time to spread the word about this sight-stealing disease. Glaucoma is an eye condition where the optic nerve (the nerve connecting our eye to our brain) is damaged which can result in loss of vision. Based on National Eye Survey 2014, glaucoma is the third most common cause of blindness in Malaysia (1%) after cataract (58%) and diabetes (10%).

The terrible thing about Glaucoma is the person affected may not feel any pain as the symptom doesn’t almost shows until the last stage. Therefore, people suffering from glaucoma may lose vision even without them knowing it. There are two types of glaucoma which are:

1️⃣ Closed angle glaucoma
This is due to very high pressures in the eyeball resulting from blockage in the drainage system of the eye. Most patients at risk for this type of glaucoma have structural differences in their eye which could be identified by eye doctor prior to an attack and preventive treatment could be performed to prevent attack.

2️⃣ Open angle glaucoma
This type of glaucoma commonly present with painless and slow progressive loss of vision that may not be detected by the patient. Thus, it is important to get regular eye screening, especially in patients with a family history of glaucoma.