November 20, 2014 Treat Glaucoma With Laser Surgery Over 2 million Americans have glaucoma, and half of them are unaware that their vision is slowly deteriorating, according to the Glaucoma Research Foundation. Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness, marked by optic nerve damage that results in irreversible vision loss. Everyone is at risk for glaucoma, from prenatal children to senior citizens. While the vision loss cannot be fixed, early detection and intervention can prevent eye damage from progressing into blindness.