Does glaucoma frequently occur?

Glaucoma is rather exceptional among young people, children and infants, and mainly occurs, at a higher age: above 40 in 2%, above 70 in 5% and above 80 in 10%.

As cause of a decrease in visual faculty it comes in the second place.
The most frequent form of glaucoma is the chronic form, the so-called open-angle-glaucoma, which represents 65% of the cases.

The form of glaucoma when there is a sudden rise in eye-pressure together with severe pains and a general clinical picture has no connection with the former one but is the second most frequent form: the closed-angle-glaucoma.

As the eye-pressure rises to 60 à 100 mm Hg within a very short time, the sight becomes blurred very fast and the patient starts seeing rainbows or mist.
Such a form has to be treated immediately, either by "laser" of surgery and mainly occurs in far-sighted eyes. These forms are inheritable.