Correcting a Blind Spot

A groundbreaking genetic study seeks to transform the prevention and treatment of glaucoma while reversing historical racial disparities in who suffers from the disease and benefits from such research.

(Photos by Peggy Peterson)

The human eye is a wonder. It is often said to be the second most complex organ in the human body, outranked only by the brain, and is responsible for transporting visual cues that help process everything from images and memories to thoughts and speech. Doctors who study the eye often find themselves tracing winding pathways among the more than 1 million tangled nerve fibers that connect each eye to the brain. Its inscrutability led some early physicians to theorize that the pupil was nothing more than an indecipherable black hole.

Glaucoma, one of the most debilitating diseases of the eye, is a mystery unto itself. For the more than 3 million Americans living with the disease, there are often no warning signs, no nagging flashes of light or foggy gray circles obstructing views. There is no pain. Then slowly, over time, sharp images may reduce to narrow vignettes; the central portrait is still somewhat recognizable, the outer edges, an infinite blur. Simple tasks like reading and writing may…