Looking at Glaucoma as a Systemic Disease
American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO)Glaucoma has long been considered a disease of the eye. For most of the 20th century, it was equated with elevated intraocular pressure. Yet, over the past two decades, an increasing number of non-pressure-dependent risk factors have been identified, suggesting that glaucoma can be broadly defined as the final common pathway of a number of different disorders that affect the eye. Glaucoma may also be included in a larger group of neurodegenerative disorders that share aspects of nerve cell death, oxidative damage and low-grade inflammation. This group of disorders includes age-related macular degeneration and Alzheimer's disease.