Dr Jayant V Iyer, Dr Jason Lee, Dr Audrey Pang and Dr Laurence Lim Shen at the reception of The Straits Eye Centre.

Glaucoma in Singapore

Glaucoma is painless until it is advanced, and the sight it takes does not come back. That is why it is found by examination, not by symptoms.

Eye pressure and optic nerve checked together
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Glaucoma surgery and laser treatment

Performed by Dr Jayant V Iyer, Senior Consultant Eye Surgeon and Medical Director, who holds glaucoma as his subspecialty.
Regional Key Opinion Leader in glaucoma

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Conservative treatment first

Drops or laser where they will do the job, and surgery only as a last resort.

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Medically reviewed by Dr Jayant V Iyer MBBS · GDFM · MMed (Ophth) · FRCOphth · FAMS

Last updated 23 September 2026

What glaucoma is

Glaucoma is damage to the optic nerve, the cable of about a million fibres that carries what you see from the eye to the brain. It is usually linked to the pressure of the fluid inside the eye being too high for that particular nerve to tolerate. Fibres are lost gradually, and the vision they carried does not come back.

Dr Jayant V Iyer on what glaucoma is, why the pressure inside the eye matters and who is most at risk.

Watch it on YouTube 2:21 · over 480,000 views

That is why finding it early matters. The common form causes no ache, no red eye and no blurring. Side vision goes first, and the other eye covers the gap, so a great deal of it can be lost before anything feels wrong.

A healthy optic nerve
Glaucoma — fibres are lost and the nerve thins

Concerned about your eye pressure? Talk to our friendly staff for a same-day appointment (subject to availability).

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Types of glaucoma

There are two main forms:

Open-angle glaucoma — the common form, and the silent one. The eye’s drainage angle stays open but drains too slowly, and pressure rises over years.
Angle-closure glaucoma — less common, and it can come on suddenly, with pain, redness, haloes around lights and nausea. That one is an emergency and needs a hospital the same day.

Age is the largest risk factor, which is why a baseline eye examination is recommended at 40. Risk is higher again with a family history of glaucoma, short-sightedness, diabetes, a previous eye injury, or long-term steroid use.

Glaucoma and a cataract are often confused, and plenty of people have both. How glaucoma and a cataract differ sets the two side by side.

Eye pressure, and what counts as high

The number a clinic gives you is intraocular pressure, in millimetres of mercury. It is the most talked-about figure in glaucoma, and the most often misread.

10–21

mmHg is what most eyes measure. That range describes what is common in a population, not what is safe in your eye.

Some optic nerves are damaged at pressures well inside it. Many eyes sit above it for years and are never damaged at all. So a reading on its own neither finds glaucoma nor rules it out — what matters is the pressure your own nerve will tolerate, judged by examining the nerve and testing the field of vision alongside the number.

Normal eye pressure

Roughly 10 to 21 mmHg, with the optic nerve and the field of vision both intact. Nothing to treat.

Ocular hypertension

Pressure above the usual range with no nerve damage yet. Not glaucoma, but watched, and sometimes treated to keep it that way.

Normal-tension glaucoma

Nerve damage at a pressure that measures inside the ordinary range. It is the case that a pressure check alone would miss.

Signs of glaucoma

In open-angle glaucoma there is generally nothing to feel. Vision is not blurred, the eye is not sore or red, and reading and screen work are unaffected until late. The loss is in the field around what you are looking at, and it arrives so slowly that the brain fills it in.

Dr Jayant V Iyer examining a patient’s eye at a slit lamp. — Dr Jayant V Iyer at the slit lamp. Glaucoma is found on examination rather than by how the eye feels.

Later on, you may notice yourself:

Catching door frames on one side
Needing more light to read
Misjudging steps and kerbs at night
Struggling to drive, even with new glasses
Keyhole vision, in the late stages

The exception is the acute form. Sudden eye pain with redness, haloes around lights, a headache and nausea is not something to book an appointment for — that is a same-day hospital presentation, and treatment within hours is what protects the eye.

Glaucoma testing in Singapore

No single test settles it. A pressure check at a spectacle counter is a starting point, not an answer.

A glaucoma assessment looks at the pressure, the nerve, and what the nerve is still doing. Each of these four answers a different question, and it is the combination that counts.

Tonometry — measures the pressure inside the eye. The number people mean when they say “eye pressure”.
Optic nerve examination — looks at the head of the nerve for the hollowing that pressure damage produces, often photographed so it can be compared later.
Visual field test — maps the side vision the common form takes first, and finds loss well before you would notice it.
Imaging of the nerve fibre layer — measures the thickness of the fibres directly, which can register thinning before a field test does. This is an OCT scan of the optic nerve.

Two more may be added: gonioscopy, a look at the drainage angle, and pachymetry, which measures the cornea so a pressure reading can be read correctly.

A woman seated at an optical coherence tomography scanner, with a scan of the optic nerve on the screen beside her. — Optical coherence tomography. The scan measures the thickness of the nerve fibre layer directly.

Two of these are the reason a routine check is worth booking when nothing is wrong. If you want the checks that come as a package, our eye screening appointment options set out what each one includes and who each is for. Side vision testing and a scan of the back of the eye come with the comprehensive screening package.

How glaucoma is treated

The aim is the same whichever route is taken: bring the pressure down to a level this nerve tolerates, and keep it there.

Because lost nerve cannot be recovered, treatment is about the vision you still have. Glaucoma is generally managed in three ways, alone or in combination:

Eye drops — taken daily to bring the pressure down.
Laser — to help fluid leave the eye more easily.
Surgery — including MIGS (minimally invasive glaucoma surgery), where the pressure needs to come down further than drops or laser have managed.

Whichever route is taken, it is normally continued for life, with regular review to confirm the field of vision is holding.

Which of those suits an eye depends on how high the pressure is, how much damage is already there, how fast it is moving and how the eye responds — so it is settled at an examination and not in advance.

Glaucoma is treated at The Straits Eye Centre.

If you have been told your pressure is high, or a relative has glaucoma and you have never been checked, that is a reason to see an eye specialist rather than watch for symptoms — because in the common form there are none to watch for.

Dr Jayant V Iyer operating at a microscope in an operating theatre. — Dr Jayant V Iyer at the operating microscope. Surgery inside the eye is done under magnification.

Glaucoma specialist in Singapore

Glaucoma is the subspecialty of Dr Jayant V Iyer, a Senior Consultant Eye Surgeon and Medical Director at The Straits Eye Centre. Among our surgeons he is the glaucoma doctor. Talk to us for a quick appointment.

Dr Jayant V Iyer

Senior Consultant & Medical Director
The Straits Eye Centre

MBBS · GDFM · MMed (Ophth) · FRCOphth · FAMS

Choosing a glaucoma specialist

I have a question about glaucoma

Send us a message about where you are with it, and we will arrange the right next step.

I was told my eye pressure is high Glaucoma runs in my family I want my optic nerve checked I would like a second opinion

Common questions

What are the first signs of glaucoma?

Usually there are none. The common form is painless and takes side vision first, which the other eye compensates for, so many people notice nothing until a substantial amount of nerve has already been lost. That is why it is found on an eye examination rather than by symptoms.

Is glaucoma the same as a cataract?

No. A cataract is clouding of the lens inside the eye and the sight it costs you can be restored by surgery. Glaucoma is damage to the optic nerve, and the sight it costs you does not come back. You can have both at once, and they are treated separately.

What is a normal eye pressure?

Most eyes measure between 10 and 21 mmHg. That range is a guide rather than a dividing line: some eyes are damaged at pressures inside it, and many eyes above it are never damaged at all, which is why pressure alone does not diagnose glaucoma.

Can you have glaucoma with normal eye pressure?

Yes. It is called normal-tension glaucoma, and the optic nerve is damaged at a pressure that measures in the ordinary range. It is one of the reasons an eye examination looks at the optic nerve and the field of vision rather than at the pressure reading alone.

Can glaucoma be cured?

No, and no treatment restores nerve that has already been lost. What treatment does is lower the pressure inside the eye to protect the vision you still have, which is why it is usually continued for life and reviewed regularly.

What is MIGS?

MIGS stands for minimally invasive glaucoma surgery: procedures that help fluid drain out of the eye through a very small incision, with less disturbance to the eye than conventional glaucoma surgery. It is generally used for mild to moderate glaucoma, often at the same time as cataract surgery, and may reduce the number of drops needed. It lowers the pressure less than conventional surgery, so it does not suit every eye. Dr Jayant V Iyer performs MIGS at The Straits Eye Centre.

Does glaucoma always lead to blindness?

No. Most people diagnosed and treated keep useful vision for the rest of their lives. The risk sits with glaucoma that goes unfound, because the early loss is in side vision and is easy to miss.

Who should be checked for glaucoma?

Risk rises with age and is higher with a family history of glaucoma, short-sightedness, diabetes, previous eye injury and long-term steroid use. A baseline eye examination is recommended at 40 even when nothing feels wrong.