Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of Blindness. It is a common disease of the eye which results from the dysfunction in the eye’s drainage system – the canal of Schlemm that leads to irreversible blindness. Because there are hardly any symptoms in the earlier stages of the disease, most glaucoma sufferers are unaware they have it.

Glaucoma prevention and treatment is about seizing the thief of sight in its tracks. With a patient’s sight on the line, glaucoma is a race against time. For every increase in intraocular pressure (IOP), a person with glaucoma slowly inches her way towards blindness. However, if one is considering the standard glaucoma surgery, called trabeculectomy, one may also fear the potential side effects of this surgery, which include worsening dry eye, blurred vision, long-term risk of infection, and even blindness.

Glaucoma and Blindness

1. Does Everyone With Glaucoma Go Blind?
2. Why Don’t Glaucoma Treatments Totally Halt Vision Loss?
3. Glaucoma Surgery May Improve Lost Vision
4. Can Vision Lost From Glaucoma Be Regained?
5. Intraocular Pressure (IOP) Monitoring
6. Common Eye Test Could Miss Vision Loss from Glaucoma

Glaucoma Medications

Eye medications have been used to treat glaucoma effectively for decades. Different glaucoma drugs have evolved from the miotics of the 60’s like pilocarpine, carbachol epinephrine and carbonic anhydrase inhibitors acetazolamide, dorzolamide, to beta blockers timolol, carteolol, betaxolol in the 80’s, and the most recent, prostaglandin analogs (more…)