People issued eyesight warning as 'silent' cause of blindness has no symptoms

dailyrecord.co.uk:

How we see the world can be a crucial part in our lives, whether it be for our jobs, spending time with our family, or looking after loved ones.

There are many ways people can keep their eyes happy and healthy, one of which being getting their eyes tested on the regular to check for any underlying conditions, reports the Mirror.

However, there are many conditions that can cause a loss in sight, often without any prior warning.One such disease is called open-angle glaucoma, which has been dubbed the "silent sight stealer", or the "thief in the night" - as it causes your vision to weaken without any symptoms.Typically by the time you begin to experience a loss in sight, it can be too late for any helpful treatment.The only way to prevent this condition from stealing your sight is by going for regular eye tests annually, particularly if you have passed the age of 40.Read on below to find out more.Glaucoma is an eye disease, and the most common cause of untreated blindness worldwide.Professor Roshini Sanders, a Consultant Ophthalmologist at Queen Margaret Hospital, said: "Glaucoma is the most common cause of untreated blindness in the world."It's raised eye pressure, which then reduces the blood flow to the nerve at the back of the eye, and parts of the nerve, therefore, die off, they become atrophic, and that impacts on your visual field - the physical range of what you can see."I wish there were subtle symptoms you could look out for, but by the time people actually start to think something is wrong, usually they've already lost about 20 percent of their vision, because each eye serves a visual field that overlaps, so there's some compensation in the eye and in the brain."There's also no pain and your eyes don't become