For the first time, a cause behind pigmentary glaucoma—one of the leading causes of blindness in adults—has been revealed by a global team of researchers from the University of Alberta, Harvard University and Flinders University in Australia.
The breakthrough research began three years ago with an Edmonton family that has a running history of the eye disease, and has since spiraled into an international research effort involving more than 400 patients with pigmentary glaucoma.
Patients with a PMEL gene mutation are encouraged to do routine screenings that can detect the development of pigmentary glaucoma, thanks to the breakthrough research that identified the mutation as a root cause of the disease.