January is Glaucoma Awareness Month. BrightFocus Shares Prevention Tips & Resources.

Source: BrightFocus

Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that leads to damage of the optic nerve (the bundle of nerve fibers that carries information from the eye to the brain), which can then lead to vision loss and possibly blindness. Optic nerve damage usually occurs in the presence of high eye (intraocular) pressure; however, it can occur with normal or even less than normal eye pressure.

Globally, 60.5 million had glaucoma in 2010. Given the aging of the world’s population, this number may increase to almost 80 million by 2020.

More than three million Americans are living with glaucoma and half are probably unaware that they have this eye disease.

2.7 million of whom—aged 40 and older—are affected by its most common form, open-angle glaucoma.

Early diagnosis and treatment can prevent further vision loss.

Learn more about glaucoma from BrightFocus’s new visual SnapShot

>> Prevention is the Key: learn more and take action