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Chronic open-angle glaucoma (COAG) is by far the most common type of glaucoma. Moreover, its frequency increases greatly with age. This increase occurs because the drainage mechanism gradually may become clogged with aging. As a consequence, the aqueous fluid does not drain from the eye properly. The pressure within the eye, therefore, builds up painlessly and without symptoms. Furthermore, as mentioned previously, since the resulting loss of vision starts on the side (peripherally), people are usually not aware of the problem until the loss encroaches on their central visual area.
Pigment dispersion syndrome occurs when pigment granules that normally adhere to the back of the iris (the colored part of the eye), flake off into the clear fluid produced in the eye, called the aqueous humor. Sometimes these granules flow toward the drainage canals of the eye, slowly clogging them and raising eye pressure. This rise in eye pressure can damage the optic nerve, the nerve in the back of the eye that carries visual images to the brain. If this happens, pigment dispersion syndrome becomes pigmentary glaucoma.
In other cases, an abnormal drainage system may be the result of some other disease in the eye which results in secondary glaucoma. In these cases, the glaucoma may be associated with recognizable iris (the colored part of the eye), corneal, or other eye problems.
Everyone is at risk for glaucoma from babies to senior citizens. Yes, older people are at a higher risk for glaucoma but babies can be born with glaucoma (approximately 1 out of every 10,000 babies born in the United States).
Closed-angle glaucoma is a relatively rare type of glaucoma. In this condition, the patient's intraocular pressure, which ordinarily is normal, can go up very suddenly (acutely). This sudden pressure increase occurs because the filtering angle becomes closed and blocks off the drainage channels.