WHATS WORSE (most dangerous)CATARACTS or GLAUCOMA??

what are the physical differences between the two?..thanks!!

Cataracts are able to be removed, as it is something that forms over your eye. Glaucoma is an eye disease, which is serious because it has something to do with the pressure in your eye and can cause blindness. So, definitely glaucoma is worse.

OK first of all the most dangerous of one losing his or her sight is glaucoma what it does it slowly impairs the persons vision it starts on the outer edge of the iris of the pupil and gradually closes causing total blindness. There is no known cure for it.

A cataract is a white layer of film that covers the pupil but doesn't cause blindness. The only cure for a cataract is eye surgery where the doctor scrapes the film off the eye and the lens has to removed for the cataract is attached to the lens then there's a possibility of a corneal transplant and after the eye is healed complete then the patient is fitted with a contact lens.

Even though I'm no doctor, I've had both conditions, so I feel qualified to answer.

Glaucoma is increased pressure within the eyeball, and can cause blindness if it isn't treated. There are many methods of treatment, and using eye drops is probably the most common. My glaucoma has been kept under control for years this way.

Cataracts are a clouding of the lens. But, unlike glaucoma, people are aware of a forming cataract due to the many symptoms. Surgery is the only treatment. The lens is removed, and an artificial lens is implanted. Improved vision can be noticed almost immediately.

To answer your question, glaucoma is more serious, since it can cause permanent damage if you don't treat it. Plus, there usually are no symptoms until much of the damage is done. Cataracts don't damage the eyes, and any lost vision is restored after the cloudy lens has been replaced.

Cataracts can be removed, glaucoma cannot. From http://eye-care.in

Glaucoma is the more dangerous of the two conditions. Glaucoma happens when the pressure within the eye is elevated. Left untreated, it lead to gradual and permanent vision loss. People with untreated glaucoma will lose their peripheral vision and can end up with very bad tunnel vision (they can only see things straight ahead and things off to the sides or to the top or bottom they cannot see) A visual field test is done to see whether they have damage anywhere in their visual field. Glaucoma can be controlled with prescription eye drops. My mother is currently on Xalatan to control her glaucoma. Virtually everyone in my family has glaucoma, so its important that I keep up with my routine eye exams to catch it early. Your eye doctor should be testing your pressures at your annual eye exam. They will either do the "puff" test, or with numbing drops and an instrument that touches the eye to measure the pressure. The latter of the two, IMO is more accuate. The puff test tends to make people jumpy and if they blink, you have to re-do it. Glaucoma will never go away. The prescription eye drops will help keep your pressure down, but once its down that does not mean that you can stop the drops. The pressure will go up again if you don't stay on it. The drops merely control it, just like most drugs for diseases. They don't cure you, but it will help you live with it and keep it in check.

Most people will get cataracts and once they are removed, they cannot happen again. Cataracts are caused by a clouding of the lens which is brought on by UV exposure, which is why its so important to always have 100% UV blocking glasses and sunglasses. When this happens, the lens is removed and they will impant an artificial lens (referred to as an IOL) Once cataracts have reached a certain point, your glasses will really no longer help you because the glasses are not correcting the problem. That's when the doctor will put you in touch with a surgeon to have them removed. It is out-patient surgery and very safe. For most people, their dependancy on glasses is greatly reduced after the surgery and most will find that they really only need glasses for reading in most cases. Incidentally, medicare does pay for one pair of glasses when it is a post-op cataract patient.

Hope this helps!

Glaucoma can cause irreversible blindness
Cataracts can cause reversible blindness

Diagnosis of glaucoma includes loss of the visual field (lose sight), and it involves the death of the ganglion cells of the retina (back of the eye), which cannot regenerate.
Cataracts involve opacity of the lens, which disrupts light travelling through the eye and reaching the retina. Advances in technology these days (in the developed world) means that surgery can remove it and replace it with a new synthetic one IOL which works as normal.

Just as well cataracts are a much more common cause of blindness than glaucoma in the world... Lets pay tribute to Fred Hollows, who helped undeveloped countries with cataract surgeries and blindness prevention throughout his whole life. His legacy lives on with the Fred Hollows Foundation.