U2's Bono revealed that he wears sunglasses all the time because he is suffering from glaucoma for about 20 years.
Bono has been long known to wear his tinted glasses all the time. He previously revealed that he does so as camera flashes from paparazzi makes his eyes swell. However, the singer has now revealed that Glaucoma is the reason why he wears the sunglasses all the time.
Glaucoma affects the optical nerve of a patient and can result in partial or total blindness. Bono, revealed the news at the Graham Norton Show, where he was promoting his latest music album "Songs of Innocence" along with other members of U2.
Glaucoma can affect one or both eyes and initially, vision of the affected person remains normal. The patient does not even experience pain. Doctors suggest that increased eye pressure leads to the development of glaucoma. The disease is usually detected after conducting a series of tests and vision lost due to glaucoma cannot be restored.
As there is no cure for glaucoma, healthcare experts suggest that early detection is the only way to delay the progression of the disease. Doctors usually prescribe medicines and eye drops to reduce eye pressure of the patient. Laser treatment and surgery is also available to patients suffering from glaucoma as they help save loss of remaining vision of an affected person.
Graham Norton asked Bono if he ever removed his dark glasses.
"This is a good place to explain to people that I've had glaucoma for the last 20 years," responded Bono. "I have good treatments and I am going to be fine. You're not going to get this out of your head now and you will be saying 'Ah, poor old blind Bono'."
The Irish band commercially released their latest music album on Oct. 13. However, the album faced controversies after it was made available for free on iTunes. Norton asked the band the reason to release the album on iTunes and Bono replied that they wanted to do something fresh, but it seems that many people did not like the idea.
Check out the video clip of Graham Norton's interview with Bono and other members of U2.
