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Dr. Chrysoula I. Liakou MD, PhD
- Treated online: Partly. A doctor can advise on glaucoma and its eye drops by video, and may continue drops you already use; diagnosis, pressure checks, laser and surgery are in person.
- What it is: damage to the optic nerve, which connects the eye to the brain, usually from a build-up of pressure in the eye. There is no cure, but treatment slows the damage.
- Symptoms: usually none at first. Side vision is lost slowly and painlessly, so glaucoma is usually found at a routine eye test.
- Who is at risk: people over 50, people with a parent, brother or sister with glaucoma, people of Black African, Caribbean or Asian background, and people who are short-sighted or have diabetes.
- Emergency: call 112 for sudden, intense eye pain with a red eye, blurred vision, rainbow-coloured rings around lights, headache or vomiting. Do not drive yourself.
Do not book a video appointment if you have sudden, intense pain in an eye with a red eye, blurred vision, rainbow-coloured circles around lights, a headache, or feeling or being sick. This can be acute angle-closure glaucoma, which can damage sight quickly. Call 112 or go to an emergency department, and do not drive yourself.
Can an online doctor treat glaucoma?
Partly. Glaucoma is diagnosed and monitored by eye specialists, with eye pressure measurements, an examination of the optic nerve and a test of your field of vision, and laser treatment and surgery are done in person. A doctor by video can explain your diagnosis and your eye drops, check side effects and how you use them, continue drops you already use when you have run out, and recognise acute glaucoma, which needs emergency care.
How an online consultation helps with glaucoma
- Emergency signs recognised: A painful red eye with blurred vision and coloured rings around lights is treated as acute glaucoma, and the doctor tells you where to go.
- Your drops, continued: If you run out while away from home, the doctor may prescribe the drops you already use, so you do not miss doses.
- Side effects checked: Red, itchy eyes, longer lashes, a change in eye colour or breathing problems can come from glaucoma drops, and what to do about each.
- Know your risk: Whether your age, family history or background mean you need regular eye tests with a pressure check.
What the doctor checks in an online glaucoma consultation
The doctor asks about the warning signs first, then about your glaucoma and your drops. The doctor asks about:
- Warning signs: sudden eye pain, a red eye, blurred vision, coloured rings around lights, a headache, or feeling or being sick.
- Your diagnosis: the type of glaucoma, your latest eye pressure and field test results, and when your next check is due.
- Your drops: their names, how often you use them, how you put them in, and any missed doses.
- Side effects: red, itchy or sore eyes, changes in eye colour, wheezing, a fast or slow heartbeat, or tiredness.
- Your health: asthma, COPD, heart problems, pregnancy, and every medicine you take.
- Your family: a parent, brother or sister with glaucoma.
Before the call, have your drops, or photos of their labels, and your latest clinic letter or prescription to hand.
What is glaucoma?
Glaucoma is a group of eye conditions in which the optic nerve, which connects the eye to the brain, becomes damaged. It is usually caused by a build-up of pressure in the eye, when the fluid inside it does not drain properly, but the nerve can also be damaged when the pressure is in the normal range. There is no cure, but treatment slows the damage, which is why finding it early matters.
Glaucoma is common. About 70 million people worldwide have it, and the WHO counts 7.7 million people whose sight is impaired or lost because of it. It is the second leading cause of blindness in the world.
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| Type | What happens | Symptoms | Usual treatment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary open-angle glaucoma | The drainage channels stay open but drain poorly, and pressure builds slowly over years | None at first; slow loss of side vision | Eye drops or laser, and surgery if they are not enough |
| Acute angle-closure glaucoma | The iris suddenly blocks the drainage angle, and the pressure rises fast | Intense eye pain, a red eye, blurred vision, coloured rings around lights, headache, vomiting | Emergency treatment, then laser to both eyes |
| Normal-tension glaucoma | The optic nerve is damaged although the pressure is in the normal range | As for open-angle glaucoma | Treatment that lowers the eye pressure |
| Secondary glaucoma | Caused by another eye condition or an injury | Depends on the cause | Treatment of the cause and the pressure |
| Ocular hypertension | Raised eye pressure without damage to the nerve | None | Monitoring, and sometimes drops or laser |
Raised eye pressure is not the same as glaucoma: about 75% of people with raised pressure never develop damage to the optic nerve. Normal eye pressure is between about 10 and 21 mm Hg.
What are the symptoms of glaucoma?
Usually none at first. The most common type, open-angle glaucoma, damages side vision so slowly and painlessly that most people do not notice until a lot of nerve fibres are lost: field tests usually show defects only after 40% to 50% of the nerve cells have gone. This is why glaucoma is usually found at a routine eye test.
- Early: no symptoms.
- Later: patchy blind spots in your side vision.
- Advanced: tunnel vision, then loss of central vision.
Symptoms of acute glaucoma
Acute angle-closure glaucoma comes on suddenly and is an emergency. The symptoms are intense eye pain, a red eye, blurred vision, rainbow-coloured circles around bright lights, a headache, and feeling or being sick. The cornea, the clear front of the eye, can look hazy.
Should I worry if I have glaucoma?
Most people with open-angle glaucoma do not lose their sight in their lifetime, as long as it is treated and monitored. Without treatment, about 35% of people reach end-stage glaucoma in at least one eye within 10 years. Using your drops every day and keeping your appointments are what protect your sight.
Who is at risk of glaucoma, and is it hereditary?
Anyone can get glaucoma, but some people are much more likely to:
- Age: the risk rises after 50, and from 40 in people of African descent.
- Family history: having a parent, brother or sister with glaucoma raises the risk more than nine times in one large study.
- Background: people of Black African, Caribbean or Asian background are at higher risk; people of African and Caribbean descent about 4 times higher for open-angle glaucoma.
- Short sight: each step of short-sightedness raises the risk.
- Other conditions: diabetes, and raised eye pressure found at an eye test.
Is glaucoma hereditary?
Partly. It runs in families: a close relative with glaucoma is one of the strongest risk factors. If a parent, brother or sister has glaucoma, have regular eye tests with a pressure check, and tell the optician about your family history; you may be advised to have them more often. In the UK, NHS sight tests are free for people aged 40 or over whose parent, brother, sister or child has glaucoma, and for people diagnosed with glaucoma.
Can you prevent glaucoma?
You cannot always prevent it, but you can prevent much of the sight loss by finding it early. Regular eye tests are the most important step, especially as you get older and if glaucoma runs in your family.
Acute glaucoma: why it is an emergency
In acute angle-closure glaucoma the iris suddenly blocks the drainage angle of the eye, and the pressure climbs from a normal 10 to 21 mm Hg to 50 to 80 mm Hg. Without fast treatment it can cause loss of sight. Call 112 or go to an emergency department, and do not drive yourself.
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| What to know | |
|---|---|
| Who is more at risk | People aged 55 to 65 and older, women (2 to 4 times more often than men), long-sighted people, people of Chinese, South-East Asian or Inuit descent, and people with a family history |
| What can set it off | Dim light, eye drops that widen the pupil, and some medicines, such as topiramate |
| What happens in hospital | Drops and medicines to bring the pressure down, then laser to make a small hole in the iris so fluid can drain |
| The other eye | Without laser, it has a 40% to 80% chance of an attack within 5 to 10 years, so both eyes are usually treated |
If you have been told you have narrow drainage angles, tell any doctor or optician before eye drops that widen the pupil, and before starting a new medicine.
How is glaucoma treated?
By lowering the pressure in the eye, with eye drops, laser or surgery. Sight lost to glaucoma is permanent, so treatment aims to slow or stop further damage and protect the sight you have. Eye specialists start and change the treatment.
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| Type of drop | Examples | Lowers eye pressure by about | Good to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prostaglandin analogues | Latanoprost and similar drops | 25% to 33% | Often the first choice; can make lashes longer and thicker and permanently darken the colour of the eye |
| Beta-blockers | Timolol | 20% to 25% | Not suitable for many people with asthma, COPD, a slow heart rate or some heart problems |
| Alpha agonists | Brimonidine | 20% to 25% | Can cause an allergic reaction of the eye and eyelids |
| Carbonic anhydrase inhibitors | Dorzolamide, brinzolamide | 15% to 20% | Lower the pressure a little less than the others |
Laser treatment and surgery
Selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) uses a low-energy laser on the eye’s drainage area. It takes about 10 minutes per eye, is virtually painless, and can delay or remove the need for daily drops. It does not lower the pressure enough in about 1 in 4 people, or its effect can wear off, but it can often be repeated. When drops and laser are not enough, surgery creates a new drainage channel for the fluid.
Can glaucoma be cured?
No. There is no cure, and no diet, supplement or exercise replaces treatment. Treatment keeps the pressure down and protects the sight you have, which is why the drops are needed every day, even when your eyes feel fine.
How to put in eye drops
- Wash your hands, and take out contact lenses.
- Tilt your head back and gently pull down your lower eyelid.
- Hold the bottle over the eye without touching the eye, lashes or lid, and squeeze one drop in.
- Close your eye and press gently on the inner corner for about a minute.
- Wipe away any extra liquid, and wait a quarter of an hour before putting contact lenses back in.
If you miss a dose of a once-daily drop, follow the leaflet: never use two doses to make up for one.
Living with glaucoma: driving and travel
Can you drive with glaucoma?
Many people with glaucoma can drive, as long as their vision meets the driving standard, including the field of vision. In the UK, you must tell the DVLA if you have glaucoma in both eyes, or in one eye if you only have sight in that eye, and you can be fined up to £1,000 if you do not. The DVLA may ask you to have a visual field test.
Travelling with glaucoma drops
- Pack enough drops for the whole trip, plus extra for delays, in your hand luggage, with some in the hold.
- Keep them in their original pharmacy packaging, and carry a copy of your prescription or a letter listing them by their generic names.
- Check the storage instructions before you go, especially for hot destinations.
- Use an opened bottle within the time on its label, often 4 weeks.
- Buy medicines abroad only from a pharmacy, because falsified medicines exist.
If you run out or lose your drops while away, a doctor by video may be able to prescribe the same drops, so you can collect them at a pharmacy near you.
Which glaucoma treatment might the doctor recommend?
What the doctor suggests depends on whether you have been diagnosed, what treatment you use and whether there are warning signs. This is the framework the doctors use:
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| What you have | Likely first step | Suitable for online care? | When in-person care is needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| No symptoms, but glaucoma runs in your family | Regular eye tests with a pressure check | Yes, to advise | For the eye test |
| Raised eye pressure found at an eye test | Referral to an eye specialist for tests | Partly | For the tests |
| Diagnosed glaucoma, and you have run out of drops | The doctor may prescribe the drops you already use | Yes | To review your treatment at your usual check-up |
| Red, itchy eyes or other side effects from drops | Advice, and a change of drop agreed with your eye specialist | Partly | If the eye is painful or your vision changes |
| Patches missing from your vision, or vision getting worse | An eye examination | No, beyond advice | Promptly, in person |
| Sudden eye pain, a red eye, blurred vision, coloured rings around lights or vomiting | Emergency treatment | No | Call 112 now |
Questions about glaucoma or your eye drops? A doctor can help in one consultation.
See available times →Treatment options for glaucoma
What you can do yourself
- Use your drops every day, at the same time, even when your eyes feel fine.
- Learn the drop technique above, so each drop reaches the eye.
- Keep every eye clinic appointment: monitoring shows whether the treatment is working.
- Tell your parents, brothers, sisters and children, so they can have regular eye tests.
- Tell any doctor or pharmacist that you have glaucoma before starting a new medicine.
Prescription treatment
A prescription is never issued without a consultation. Glaucoma treatment is started and changed by an eye specialist. If you already use glaucoma eye drops and have run out, for example while abroad, the doctor may prescribe the same drops so you can keep using them until you see your eye specialist; have the box, the prescription or your clinic letter ready. If the doctor prescribes, use the prescription at a pharmacy near you.
What does not help
Stopping your drops because your eyes feel fine: glaucoma is painless until a lot of sight is lost. Supplements or so-called natural cures instead of treatment. Driving yourself to hospital with the symptoms of acute glaucoma.
Special situations
Asthma, COPD and heart problems
Beta-blocker drops are not suitable for many people with asthma, COPD, a slow heart rate or some heart conditions. Tell your doctor about these before using them, and seek help urgently for wheezing or difficulty breathing.
Pregnancy
Tell your eye specialist and doctor if you are pregnant, planning a pregnancy or breastfeeding, because it affects which drops are suitable. Do not stop your drops without advice.
Glaucoma while travelling in Europe
Carry your drops in your hand luggage with your prescription, and keep your usual routine. A painful red eye with blurred vision on a trip is an emergency anywhere: call 112.
Children
Mobi Doctor consultations are for adults aged 18 and over. A child who is unwell needs a paediatrician or a local doctor in person, and emergency signs in a child mean 112.
When glaucoma is treated online, and when you need in-person care
Treated online: questions about your diagnosis and your risk, side effects and how to use your drops, continuing the drops you already use when you run out, and recognising acute glaucoma.
In-person care: diagnosis, eye pressure checks, field tests and optic nerve examinations, starting or changing treatment, laser and surgery, and acute glaucoma, which is an emergency.
When to get in-person care
Call 112 or go to an emergency department now for:
- sudden, intense pain in an eye
- a red eye with blurred vision
- rainbow-coloured circles around bright lights, with eye pain
- eye pain with a headache, feeling sick or being sick
- sudden loss of vision
- wheezing, chest pain or difficulty breathing after using eye drops
Get medical advice the same day for:
- a red, painful or very irritated eye after starting new drops
- a fast or irregular heartbeat after using eye drops
- blurred vision that does not clear after a drop
How Mobi Doctor works
- Book a time that suits you: daily 7am–11pm CEST. You can see a doctor over video, usually within 15 minutes. No subscription, and the exact price is shown before you pay.
- Speak to a licensed doctor about your eyes: say which drops you use and how often, show the box or your clinic letter, and mention any pain, redness or change in your vision.
- Leave with a plan: what to do, what to take and for how long, and which signs mean you should be seen in person. If the doctor prescribes, use the prescription at a pharmacy near you.
No sign-up needed
Not sure it’s glaucoma? Tick every symptom you have to see each condition page that mentions it. It finds the right page, not a diagnosis: a doctor gives you that on a video call. If you have an emergency sign listed on this page, call 112 instead.
Tap the body — an area or a point — to browse symptoms anywhere
Similar symptoms, different condition? Blurred vision can start the same way. Compare them, or look up any other symptom in the full symptom checker.
Frequently asked questions about glaucoma
What is glaucoma?
Glaucoma is a group of eye conditions in which the optic nerve, which connects the eye to the brain, is damaged, usually by a build-up of pressure in the eye. It slowly takes away side vision first. There is no cure, but treatment slows the damage.
What are the first signs of glaucoma?
Usually there are no first signs of glaucoma. The common type causes no pain and takes side vision so slowly that most people do not notice, which is why it is usually found at a routine eye test. Patchy blind spots in your side vision come later.
What are three symptoms of acute glaucoma?
Acute glaucoma causes sudden, intense eye pain with a red eye, blurred vision, and rainbow-coloured circles around lights, often with a headache and feeling or being sick. This is an emergency: call 112 and do not drive yourself.
What causes glaucoma?
Glaucoma is usually caused by a build-up of pressure inside the eye, when the fluid in it does not drain properly. Sometimes the optic nerve is damaged even though the pressure is normal. Age, family history, background, short sight and diabetes raise the risk.
Is glaucoma hereditary?
Partly. It runs in families, and a parent, brother or sister with glaucoma is one of the strongest risk factors. If a close relative has it, have regular eye tests with a pressure check.
Can glaucoma be prevented?
Glaucoma itself cannot be prevented, but sight loss from it can: have an eye test with a pressure check every 2 years from 40, yearly if a parent, brother or sister has glaucoma or your family background carries a higher risk, keep diabetes and blood pressure controlled, wear eye protection for sport and DIY, do not smoke, exercise regularly, which lowers eye pressure, and use prescribed drops every day without missing doses. Because the damage is painless and permanent, early detection is the prevention.
Can glaucoma be cured?
No. There is no cure, and sight lost to glaucoma is permanent. Eye drops, laser and surgery lower the eye pressure and slow or stop further damage, and no diet or supplement replaces them.
What is the outlook with glaucoma, and how fast does it progress?
Glaucoma is lifelong, but with treatment most people keep useful sight for life: open-angle glaucoma progresses slowly over years, and drops, laser or surgery that lower the eye pressure slow it further, so the vision you have when it is found is largely the vision you keep. Sight already lost does not return, which is why checks every 6 to 12 months and daily drops matter; untreated, glaucoma leads to tunnel vision and blindness, and acute glaucoma can damage sight within days.
Should I worry if I have glaucoma?
Most people with open-angle glaucoma keep useful sight for life when it is treated and monitored. Without treatment, about 35% reach end-stage glaucoma in at least one eye within 10 years, so using your drops every day matters.
What are the side effects of glaucoma eye drops?
Prostaglandin glaucoma drops can make lashes longer and darken the colour of the eye. Beta-blocker drops can worsen asthma and slow the heart. Red, itchy or irritated eyes are common with several types. Wheezing or chest pain after drops needs 112.
Can you drive with glaucoma?
Often, yes, if your vision meets the driving standard. In the UK, you must tell the DVLA if you have glaucoma in both eyes, or in one eye if you only have sight in that eye, and you may be asked to have a visual field test.
How is glaucoma diagnosed?
Glaucoma is diagnosed at an eye test and then by an eye specialist, who measures the eye pressure, examines the optic nerve, tests your field of vision and checks the drainage angle. These tests are done in person.
Is raised eye pressure the same as glaucoma?
No. Glaucoma is damage to the optic nerve, usually from raised pressure inside the eye, but raised eye pressure on its own is not glaucoma: about 75% of people with raised pressure never develop damage to the optic nerve. That is why the diagnosis of glaucoma rests on tests of the optic nerve and your field of vision, not on a pressure reading alone, and why some people with raised pressure are monitored rather than treated.
Can an online doctor prescribe glaucoma eye drops?
If you already use glaucoma drops and have run out, a doctor by video may prescribe the same drops after a consultation. Starting or changing glaucoma treatment is done by an eye specialist in person.
- Glaucoma, NHS, National Health Service (UK), reviewed 13 June 2025.
- Open angle glaucoma, Tripathy K, Zeppieri M. StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf, updated 7 March 2024.
- Acute angle-closure glaucoma, Khazaeni B, Zeppieri M, Khazaeni L. StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf, updated 10 January 2026.
- Blindness and vision impairment: fact sheet, WHO, World Health Organization, 10 February 2026.
- Glaucoma treatment: the options, Benenden Hospital (UK), reviewed 25 August 2026.
- Glaucoma and driving, DVLA, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (gov.uk), accessed 15 October 2026.
- Free NHS eye tests and optical vouchers, NHS, National Health Service (UK), reviewed 19 July 2023.
- How and when to use latanoprost, NHS, National Health Service (UK), updated 17 July 2025.
- Side effects of latanoprost, NHS, National Health Service (UK), updated 17 July 2025.
- Medicines and travel, TravelHealthPro, National Travel Health Network and Centre (UK), updated 24 October 2025.
This page is for information only and is not a substitute for a medical consultation. Guideline links are provided for transparency; treatment decisions are made with your doctor.
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