Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness in the Europe, especially for older people, but the loss of sight from the condition is preventable if you get treatment early enough. It is a disease of the optic nerve, which is the nerve that carries the images we see to the brain. Many people know that glaucoma has something to do with the pressure inside the eye, but what a lot of people don’t know is that the higher the pressure inside the eye, the greater the chance of damage to the optic nerve.The optic nerve is like an electric cable containing a huge number of wires. Glaucoma can damage nerve fibers, causing blind spots to develop. Often people don’t notice these blind areas until a great deal of optic nerve damage has already occurred. If the entire nerve is destroyed, then blindness results. Early detection and treatment by your ophthalmologist are the keys to preventing optic nerve damage and permanent blindness from this condition.