How Do You Get Glaucoma?

glaucoma is a genetic condition that can be heridetry effecting the eyes

What is glaucoma?
To put it in the simplest definition, it is a disease in your eye that can damage the optic nerve when the fluid (that keeps your eye healthy, white, and thick) gets stuck when it is draining and clogs up and causes pressure, which could cause blindness to your eyes. Doctors don鈥檛 know why it happens in some people, so there is no real cure. The doctors do know that it takes place in the canal in the eye and they can do surgery to fix it and you can control the pressure with drugs.

What are the effects of glaucoma?
Glaucoma can affect the eyes in one of two ways. It usually affects both eyes, and it is the leading cause of blindness in the world. The fluid (that stops flowing and builds up the pressure, or the main cause of glaucoma) has a little to do with it, too. It keeps the eye firm and clear and if it doesn鈥檛 flow through the eye, then the eye doesn鈥檛 stay clear and firm. The pressure also affects the vision of the person. The pressure can damage the optic nerve and you lose your eyesight; the first to go is how far you can see, and the peripheral vision or how far you can see to the side.

The Causes
The causes of glaucoma are few. It can be hereditary and run in the family, but it is more common in African Americans than it is in Whites. Some specific things can also cause it, like steroids in the eye drops that people use, diabetes, and a previous eye injury or surgery. It also affects people of all ages. There are also things that can cause it like a bad diet, wearing contact lenses, too much reading or reading in low light, and other normal activities using the eyes.

The Symptoms
There are a lot of symptoms for some glaucoma types but there are also almost no symptoms for most of them. 15% of patients who come to the doctor鈥檚 office know that they have something wrong with their eyes or that it is glaucoma. The symptoms for all glaucoma cases are blurred vision, eye pain, red eye, dilated pupils, severe pain in the head, and seeing halos around lights.

What can be done?
What can the optometrist or the ophthalmologist do for you? He can test your eyes in three ways. First, he can do a pressure test; second, he can see the color of your optic nerve and the shape of it; and last, he can do a complete field vision test. If you have glaucoma he can also check your eyes every couple of months and see what needs to be done.
http://www.paperpen.com/glaucoma/...
what for??
It isn't an STD--unless you misspelled it and are asking about something different..Check out this site:
http://www.glaucoma.org/
look it up at www.webmd.com, good info
Why do you have it?????