Although initially symptomless, glaucoma can eventually cause blindness when not properly treated  Tests under laboratory conditions of the traditional treatment, daily administration of eyedrops, show it to be as effective in relieving the internal ocular pressure that causes glaucoma as is a new laser-surgical procedure
Yet glaucoma-related blindness occurs in a significantly smaller percentage of patients who have had the surgery than of patients for whom only the eyedrop treatment was prescribed
There is no known physiological cause of glaucoma other than increase in pressure inside the eye.