UK Paediatric Glaucoma Society
Helping children with paediatric glaucoma fulfil their potential!
What is glaucoma?
Glaucoma is a condition in which the pressure inside the eyeball is too high and there is damage to the nerve which carries vision to the brain. This is how glaucoma can irreversibly damage the vision.
Isn’t glaucoma something that happens to adults?
Glaucoma is seen more often in adults than children. In most people glaucoma starts as they get older, and it usually starts at some point in adult years.
However glaucoma does happen in children, and some children are born with it. Glaucoma in children is quite a different disease to glaucoma in adults requiring more surgeries, more intensive treatment and there is a greater threat to vision, especially without access to good care.
How common is glaucoma in children?
There about one hundred and fifty children newly found to have glaucoma each year in the UK. Glaucoma can not be cured, but can be controlled, so all those children need ongoing care for their whole life times, so the total number continues to accumulate and get bigger.
Who we are:
We are a group of people who care for children and their families with glaucoma. The UKPGS is mainly made up by eye surgeons (ophthalmologists) from around the world or surgeons-in-training. About half of the members are from the UK and about half are from many other countries, from all populous continents of the world.
We welcome all people delivering eye care for children with glaucoma from around the globe.
What we do:
Every year we hold a conference, usually in January in London to share knowledge and experience. We make no financial returns to our members and exist to improve the lives of the children we look after.
Childhood glaucoma is quite rare, so it is very important to share our learning for the mutual benefit of children with glaucoma.
Protecting the vision of children affected by glaucoma can be very demanding and challenging. At UKPGS we are a network of mentors and colleagues and we provide mutual support in our endeavour to better the lives of children with glaucoma.
Our organisation has existed since 2012 and achieved Charitable status in early 2025.
Currently our main activity is to provide a forum for presenting research and learning. We recognise and reward high quality work with annual recognition of the best research at the meeting, after anonymised judging by a panel of experts.
As our resources grow we will be able to increase our impact by funding carefully chosen research, supporting training for young ophthalmologists, travel bursaries, both in the UK and for parts of the world which are resource-poor.
How we are regulated:
We are a UK register charity (Charity number:1211654). We have a rotating board of trustees who ensure that in all our activities at UKPGS, we are ultimately working towards making the lives of children with glaucoma better.
f I make a donation to UKPGS how will the money be spent?
Your donation will help us spread knowledge and expertise in managing glaucoma in children. It is a continual challenge to inspire, recruit and train experts to care for children with glaucoma even in the UK. There are many parts of the world with little or no access to expert care to prevent these children losing their vision forever.
As our organisation grows a donation could fund a research project that aids early diagnosis, or seeks to improve treatments, or increases our understanding of glaucoma. Your donation could fund a research assistant’s time or support training of future glaucoma surgeons protecting future generations from sight loss.
When a child is found to have glaucoma the impact of this diagnosis has been found to be as impactful as a diagnosis with malignancy or equivalent to major surgery. We would like to be able to develop resources for families to be able to access to support and information to make their journey with glaucoma more bearable.