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HIGH cholesterol is a concern for a lot of people in the UK. It is a condition that has to be managed carefully to avoid the development of any serious conditions. An American study has now found that heart disease may not be the only thing you're at risk of with high cholesterol. There is good and bad cholesterol. Good cholesterol is called high-density lipoprotein, this absorbs cholesterol and sends it back to the liver which flushes it from the body. Bad cholesterol in contrast is called low-density lipoprotein. This sticks to the walls of your blood vessels, forming a plaque, increasing your risk of heart disease and stroke. Those with high levels of bad cholesterol have to take medications and manage it through their lifetime, so that they do not increase their risk of developing heart disease Now, a new study has found that if you have high cholesterol that you may have a higher risk of developing a dangerous eye condition known as glaucoma. A glaucoma is an eye condition where the optic nerve, that connects the brain to the eye, becomes damaged. They are normally caused by the building up of fluid in the front of the eye. This increases pressure in the eye and, if not diagnosed and treated soon enough, can lead to loss of vision in that eye. The study, published in JAMA Opthamology, looked at over 800 cases of the most common type of glaucoma, primary open-angle glaucoma, in a study of over 136,000 participants who were followed over more than 15 years. During this time, participants updated the researchers on their use of statins (a group of drugs used to lower cholesterol) and provided updates on their cholesterol levels. Having collected the information and studied it, the authors of the study found "for every 20-point increase in total cholesterol, there was a 7 percent increase in glaucoma risk".