'Pressure-Lowering' Eye Drops Help to Prevent Glaucoma

Research findings recently published in Journal Archives of Ophthalmology show that eye drops prescribed to lower intraocular pressure can slow down or even prevent the onset of glaucoma. The results of the study show that 'pressure-lowering' eye drops lower the risk of developing 'primary-open angle' glaucoma by 50%.
In the United States, about 10 million people have high intraocular pressure while 2.5 million people are victims of glaucoma. Glaucoma is also the main cause of low visual acuity and blindness in Afro-Americans.

The study was carried out in 22 ophthalmology centers in the United States among 1,636 people aged between 40 and 80 with high intraocular pressure but who had not yet developed glaucoma. Only half of these patients were given eye drops daily. (The eye drops normally used for high intraocular pressure are very similar to the medicines used for high blood pressure or 'prostalandins', a new form of medication). In the group of patients who was given the eye drops, intraocular pressure fell in 20% of the cases. Even more important is the fact that only 4.4% of these developed glaucoma. For the group that was not given the eye drops, the cases of glaucoma totaled 9.5%.