Glaucoma is an eye condition in which the optic nerve becomes damaged, leading to vision loss. The optic nerve is responsible for carrying images from the eye to the brain. The most common type, primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), is the second leading cause of blindness in the U.S. and the leading cause among African-Americans. An estimated 2.5 million Americans have POAG, yet half of them probably don't know they have it.

There are several risk factors associated with POAG - one of the most important is higher than normal pressure within the eye (intraocular pressure or IOP). People who often have higher than normal IOP are considered to have high pressure (a condition called "ocular hypertension") in the eye, and are at increased risk for developing POAG. A person is considered to have POAG if he or she shows signs of optic nerve damage that isn't due to another known cause.

People who have been diagnosed with POAG are often treated with prescription eye drops to lower IOP, which prevents additional vision loss in many people. A recently completed study, the Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study (OHTS) has now shown that prescription eye drops may help prevent the development of POAG in some people with ocular hypertension. In the OHTS study, eye drops reduced the development of POAG by more than 50 percent in patients with ocular hypertension. However, 90 percent of untreated patients did not develop glaucoma.

Should I Use Eye Drops to Prevent POAG?
If you don't have ocular hypertension or other risk factors for POAG, the eye drops used in the study won't benefit you. For people with ocular hypertension, the types of eye drops used in the study are only available by prescription. So if you have ocular hypertension, talk to your Eye M.D. He or she can evaluate your eye health, risk factors and lifestyle to help you determine if prescription eye drops might benefit you.

See Glaucoma