A new paradigm for understanding glaucoma has emerged

Glaucoma isn't simply an eye disease, experts now say, but rather a degenerative nerve disorder, not unlike Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease.

While researchers still recognize high pressure within the eye as a leading risk factor for glaucoma, it is becoming clear that the condition begins with injury to the optic nerve as it exits the back of the eye. The damage then spreads, moving from one nerve cell to adjoining nerve cells.

Neeru Gupta, MD, PhD, of the University of Toronto, explained, In glaucoma, we've shown that when your retinal ganglion cells are sick, the long axons that project from the eye into the brain are also affected, resulting in changes that we can detect in the vision center of the brain. This phenomenon, called transynaptic damage, occurs in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, as well.

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