What are two signs of glaucoma

Glaucoma's basically a bunch of eye problems that mess with your optic nerve—usually because pressure inside your eye gets too high. It's a major reason people over 60 go blind. Thing is, early on it's sneaky, hardly any symptoms. So lots of folks have no clue they've got it. But as it gets worse, two big signs show up: you start losing your side vision, and your eye might hurt or look red.

What are the two main signs of glaucoma?

The two most common signs of glaucoma are:

• Peripheral Vision Loss (Tunnel Vision): This is often the first noticeable sign. You may lose vision on the sides (peripheral vision) while central vision remains sharp. Over time, it can feel like you are looking through a tunnel.
• Eye Pain and Redness: This is more common in acute angle-closure glaucoma. Symptoms can include severe eye pain, headache, eye redness, blurred vision, and seeing halos around lights.

How does peripheral vision loss happen in glaucoma?

So here's what's happening—glaucoma attacks the optic nerve fibers that send visual info from your eyeball to your brain. The damage usually kicks off at the edges of what you see. As that nerve keeps deteriorating, your brain just stops getting signals from the outer parts of your retina. That creates blind spots on your sides. And those spots? They grow, merge, and eventually you're stuck with tunnel vision. This is why you absolutely need regular eye exams. You won't feel this slow, painless loss until it's way advanced.

What are the other common symptoms of glaucoma?

Beyond losing side vision and having eye pain, other symptoms can pop up depending on the type of glaucoma you've got. These include:

• Blurred vision
• Seeing rainbow-colored halos around lights
• Severe headache
• Nausea or vomiting (especially with angle-closure glaucoma)
• Eye redness
• Sudden vision disturbance in low light

But here's the tricky part—open-angle glaucoma, which is the most common kind, often gives you zero symptoms until you've already lost a ton of vision.

What is the difference between open-angle and angle-closure glaucoma?

Getting these two types straight matters a lot for spotting the signs.

Checklist for Recognizing Glaucoma Signs

Run through this list. If any of this sounds familiar, get to an eye doctor pronto.

• Do you have trouble seeing objects to the side while looking straight ahead?
• Do you experience sudden, severe eye pain?
• Is your eye red or swollen?
• Do you see halos or rainbows around lights?
• Have you had a sudden headache with nausea or vomiting?
• Is your vision blurred or cloudy?
• Do you have a family history of glaucoma?

Frequently Asked Questions