Glaucoma and Aging: A Deadly Combination
             Glaucoma is a debilitating disease affecting mainly the elderly, often times limiting mobility (eg. Walking, driving, societal mobility) and if untreated, can cause complete blindness. It is simply described as the build up of intraocular pressure (IOP) or pressure within the eyeball. The main reason for loss of vision is due to damage to the optic nerve, caused by the pressure build up. In glaucoma, it has been estimated that up to "50% of the retinal ganglion cells at any particular location can be lost before a visual field defect is detectable using currently available clinical methods" (Morgan, 1999). Consequently, if we rely on tests of visual acuity or visual field, significant retinal damage may have already occurred by the time that disease is detected, leading to a poorer visual prognosis. Glaucoma has many repercussions to the aging population, but mainly in the loss of mobility.
             Glaucoma is now defined as a group of ocular diseases characterized by elevated intraocular pressure that causes progressive damage to the optic nerve, resulting in optic nerve atrophy and blindness. The two primary types of disease, open-angle glaucoma and angle-closure glaucoma, are classified according to the anatomy of the anterior chamber angle. This is determined by visual inspection of the angle using a special lens (goniolens) at the slit-lamp biomicroscope. Both types of disease may be present in the same eye, a condition known as combined-mechanism glaucoma. Glaucoma is further differentiated as primary (not related to other conditions) or secondary (associated with an ocular condition, systemic condition, or both).
             Open-angle glaucoma accounts for at least two thirds of cases of glaucoma and affects at least 2 million people in the United States. Primary risk factors are age, African American race, a family history of glaucoma, high myopia, diabetes mellitus, and corticoster...