BOSTON -- It can steal your sight without warning. More than three million Americans are living with glaucoma and only half know it.

Barbara Vivieros is a glaucoma sufferer who found it difficult to continue her work creating wigs for cancer patients at her salon in Rhode Island.

"If you're losing your hair to chemo, you don't want a wig, you want your own hair," Vivieros said."I can say I have helped a lot of people and that helps me."

But a few years back, Vivieros was the one who needed help when her doctor diagnosed her with glaucoma, an eye disease that can damage the optic nerve and lead to blindness.

"Every day it was like, 'Is it going to be today? Am I going to lose my sight?'" Vivieros said.

There is no cure for glaucoma, though most patients are able to manage their disease with laser surgery or eye drops. But neither worked for Vivieros.

"I was getting dizzy spells," she said. "I'd be afraid to take customers in."

Fearful she'd lose her sight and her livelihood, Vivieros underwent a new surgery called canaloplasty. Dr. Bradford Shingleton, of Opthalmic Consultants of Boston, was her surgeon. He is one of about a dozen doctors who perform canaloplasty in the U.S.

"Canaloplasty doesn't cure glaucoma, but it gives us a very good chance to control the glaucoma for a patient's lifetime," said Shingleton.

The procedure takes about 30 minutes and is done under general anesthesia. Shingleton said it's similar to stent surgery for coronary bypass.

"Canalplasty is innovative because of the specific ability to dilate for the first time the glaucoma drainage channel of the eye," Singleton said.

It relieves pressure on the optic nerve without pain to control the disease.

"I don't use any drops at all now," said Vivieros.

Nearly a full year after Vivieros's surgery, she feels great and is completely focused on making her clients feel beautiful.

"When a patient looks at you and says for the two hours that I was here with my friends I forgot I had cancer, that's something," Vivieros said.

Canaloplasty is not for every glaucoma patient. It works best in those with moderately severe cases, and for whom other treatments have proven unsuccessful.