Who is at risk for glaucoma?

• diabetes
• nearsightedness, called myopia
• regular, long-term corticosteroid use, particularly if in the form of eyedrops
• previous eye injury

Your ophthalmologist considers many kinds of information to determine your risk for developing the disease.

The most important risk factors include:

• Age
• Elevated eye pressure
• Family history of glaucoma
• African or Hispanic ancestry
• Farsightedness or nearsightedness
• Past eye injuries
• Thinner central corneal thickness
• Systemic health problems, including diabetes, migraine headaches and poor circulation
• Pre-existing thinning of the optic nerve

Your ophthalmologist will weigh all of these factors before deciding whether you need treatment for glaucoma, or whether you should be monitored closely as a potential glaucoma patient. This means your risk of developing glaucoma is higher than normal, and you need to have regular examinations to detect the early signs of damage to the optic nerve.

• People ages 50 and older. Like other bodily processes that wind down with age, the eye's drainage system also seems to become less efficient as people grow older.
• People who have high intraocular pressure.
• People with a family history of glaucoma. The most common type of glaucoma, open-angle glaucoma, is hereditary. People whose immediate family members have this form of the disease face a far higher risk than the general population.
• People of African American or Hispanic ancestry. Glaucoma is six to eight times more common in African Americans than in Caucasians. Hispanics also appear to be more prone to the disease than people of European ancestry.