First, as you're beginning to appreciate, glaucoma is no big deal these days. Typically it is inherited, and strikes only sometime after you're 40. The later the better, because the older you are when it strikes, the less likely it is to have done you any serious damage by the time something else does you terminal damage. It can occur in younger people,in which case it is likely to be secondary - ie caused by some other problem. In this case it is best to be living in the developed world, as the problem will need to be closely managed if it is to do no real damage in the course of a lifetime.

Treatment is typically in the form of eye-drops or a combination of perhaps two or three different eyedrops, applied up to four times a day. In more severe cases acetazolamide (Diamox) tablets might be prescribed, Non-invasive (laser) surgery is likely to be preferred to long-term use of Diamox, where such surgery is likely to be effectve, in containing the problem. (And so far, containment is the best that can be achieved, as there is no cure.) Where laser treatment is inappropriate, and in more severe cases, invasive surgery is also an option.

Glaucoma is the name for abnormally high ocular pressure. One eye or both can be affected, and the symptoms include ocular discomfort, (ranging up to and including diabolical pain in sudden and acute onsets); hazy vision, and a rainbow effect round point sources of light. (Test by looking at a lit match or candle in a darkish room.) Never count on noticing all these symptoms, or even any. The disease creeps up insidiously, giving the eye(s) time to accommodate, in which case you may get no symptoms at all. For this reason, and the strong genetic factor, eye tests are free in the UK for anyone who has a parent/sibling etc with glaucoma. Even in this day and age it can pass by undetected for many years, by which time irreparable damage to visual acuity may have been caused.

It is believed (but not proven) that high ocular pressure (glaucoma), if unchecked, will eventually damage the "disk" - the retina end of the optic nerves. If such damage occurred at the centre of the disk, any damage to vision would be easily detected. But it is more likely to occur around the edges, meaning that impairment is confined to peripheral vision, and is unlikely to be detected except in field-of-vision testing, or when the damage becomes severe.

In your case, Morticia, I would assume that the optician carried out a field-of-vision test for each eye, in which case he/she will have have been able to say whether any damage has been done. If it has, it is unlikely to restrict you in anything, unless it is really bad, you want to fly planes, or you are used to playing squash at a very high standard. Anyone with a driving licence (in the UK) who gets glaucoma in both eyes is supposed to notify this fact, in which case a binocular fields-of-vision test has to be undergone.

Except when the damage has become extensive, any blind spot(s) in one eye will be compensated by the other eye, and the licence will not be in jeopardy. It's very unlikely that blind-spots in each eye will overlap. No chance of a pilot's licence though.

Sometimes people put off checking for glaucoma because of unease about how ocular pressure might be tested. Fear not. The tests are unbelievably simple. An optician might do it simply with a device that blows a gentle puff of air at the eye, and measures the force of the rebound. Such devices are hopeless for monitoring but are good enough to indicate whether there might be a problem. There are more sophisticated optical devices that make actual but gentle contact with the eye surface, but anaesthetising drops are applied first, and you are unlikely to feel any discomfort. Either way is quite a lot better than the way it was done 40 years ago.

If you, Morticia, or anyone else wants to discuss glaucoma at even greater length, send me a personal message.