Dr. Grossman’s Blog

In addition to removing a cataract, cataract surgery can also lower eye pressure.  Eye pressure or intraocular pressure is often (but not always) associated with the development of glaucoma.

A study presented at the American Glaucoma Society meeting explains how patients who had ocular hypertension before cataracts surgery exhibited a marked decrease in eye pressure after the procedure. Their pressure readings decreased by 18%.  They were not taking any medication to lower their eye pressure.  Source: OSN Super Site

It is possible to avoid what has become the most common surgery in the US – cataract removal – through a combination of nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle changes.  Learn more about how to prevent cataracts naturally. Fighting free radicals by boosting you antioxidant intake is a great place to start.

You can also learn more about how to prevent glaucoma by reading up on other studies on our glaucoma research pages.

A new super small computer could be implanted in the eyes of a glaucoma patient to make constant eye pressure measurements.

The device is just a a cubic millimeter in size and is something of a technological marvel – scientists made many discoveries regarding powering such a tiny machine.

The focus of this MIT Technology Review article was on the technical aspects of creating such a device.  This implanted sensor is focused purely on measuring glaucoma’s progress based on fluctuations in intraocular pressure.  New research shows that individuals can have glaucoma without experiencing increased eye pressure and that elevated eye pressure does not necessarily mean that one will develop the condition.

People who run a higher risk of developing glaucoma include those who experience high levels of stress, have glaucoma in their families, have trouble absorbing nutrients from food, and who are obese.  Learn more about glaucoma risk factors.

Learn about alternative and complementary treatments for glaucoma at our website.

At Natural Eye Care, we know that lifestyle choices make a major impact on the health of the eyes.

A new study published in the Archives of Ophthalmology seeks to determine how “lifestyle-related risk factors, such as socioeconomic status, smoking, alcohol consumption, and obesity” can influence the likelihood that people will develop  open-angle glaucoma.

Nearly 4000 people were part of this nearly 10 year long study. None had glaucoma at the outset, but at the end, 2.7% had developed the eye condition.

The researchers claim that socioeconomic status, smoking, or alcohol intake were not associated with glaucoma.  They did assert that women who were obese were less likely to develop glaucoma (other studies have found the same thing).  Source: http://archopht.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/archophthalmol.2010.373

These findings are in opposition to other studies that have linked smoking to glaucoma.  We always recommend that people limit alcohol consumption to one glass of red wine per night.  And studies do show that stress is a major factor in the development of glaucoma.

image by ars.usda.gov

A recent article in Medscape Today reviews approaches to preventing and curing glaucoma (diseases that damage the optic nerve) through the employment of “neuroprotective agents.”   According to the article “neuroprotection aims to protect as yet undamaged, and to rescue already damaged neurons, from the glaucoma insult(s) to retinal ganglion cells.”

In addition to describing more traditional pharmaceutical options for fighting glaucoma, the review includes a discussion of several antioxidants including melatonin, Coenzyme Q10, vitamin E, and ginkgo biloba.  Antioxidants, a more natural approach than the pharmaceuticals in the study, may be helpful neuroprotective agents.

Learn more about how to prevent and treat glaucoma naturally at our website.

image via health.nih.go

One risk factor for glaucoma is central corneal thickness.

Researchers looking at ethnic populations in Singapore have identified the genes that affect collagen growth, which in turn affects central corneal thickness.  Knowing how these specific genes work can help provide insight into the cause and progression of glaucoma.

Source: http://hmg.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2010/11/23/hmg.ddq511.abstract

Learn more about how to prevent and treat glaucoma naturally at our website.

Image via ninds.nih.gov

Researchers are studying the relationship between glaucoma and migraines.

At the 2010 American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) – Middle East-Africa Council of Ophthalmology (MEACO) Joint Meeting in Chicago Russian researcher Yury S Astakhov, MD, PhD presented his work with people susceptible to migraines and how their day- and at night-time blood pressure levels may be related to the onset of glaucoma.

According to Dr. Astakhov, “We conclude that low diastolic blood pressure at night is a possible risk factor for glaucoma in patients with migraine.”

Migraine is a known risk factor for open-angle glaucoma, especially in the development of normal tension glaucoma in which the optic nerve becomes damaged even though there is no elevation in eye pressure.

Learn more about ocular migraines.

For information on glaucoma, have a look at these pages.

Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/204895.php

Image by Elsie esq.

Researchers in Australia are working to unravel the genetic code of two related eye conditions: glaucoma and myopia.

Teams across the world have been building upon one another’s work to pinpoint the Caveolin that is thought to be responsible for glaucoma.  These same researchers are also working with the results of studies in Europe that show the genes GJD2 and RASGRF1 to be related to the development of myopia.

Both of these discoveries rely on using Twins Eye Study to corroborate the researchers findings.  Twins studies are essential to genetics twins share nearly 100% of their genetic polymorphisms and can help scientists determine whether conditions are causes by inherited or genetic factors.

Source: http://www.news.uwa.edu.au/201009152874/international/genetic-discovery-offers-new-hope-eye-diseases

For more on how to prevent and treat myopia visit this site.

If you are interested in the prevention and treatment of glaucoma, have a look at this information.

Image courtesy of USDA

Recent research has shown that glaucoma may not originate in the retina itself, but at the other end of the optic nerve located back in the middle of the brain.  In a study of rodents published in PNAS, it was found that the problem may stem from the nerve’s inability to transport impulses.  The scientists from Vanderbilt University and University of Washington say that this transport deficit seems related to the subject’s age and is not necessarily related in increased ocular pressure.  Locating glaucoma’s cause in the nerve rather than the retina may lead to new breakthroughs in glaucoma detection and therapy.

Source: http://www.pnas.org/content/107/11/5196.abstract

Learn more about who is at risk for glaucoma and how to prevent the eye disease known as “the silent thief.”

A recent Canadian study on the progression of glaucoma shows that age and abnormal anticardiolipin antibody levels are key factors in the decrease of sufferers’ field of vision. Anticardiolipin antibodies are associated with such diseases as lupus, syphilis, and antiphospholipid syndrome, but the presence of these antibodies does not necessarily indicate that a patient has any of these conditions. According to study authors, “While this finding (regarding anticardiolipin antibodies [ACA]) is significant, its practical implications are unclear as only 5.5% of the tested patients had abnormal ACA levels.”

Researchers also looked at changes in intraocular pressure (IOP) and determined that a modest IOP reduction in patients with progressing glaucoma significantly reduced the rate of visual field decline.

Source: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/727024

Learn more about glaucoma risk factors on our website.

A recent study out of the Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences at the University of Toronto New indicates that glaucoma patients can reduce intraocular pressure by sleeping with their head elevated at a 30-degree angle as opposed to sleeping with their heads flat on a mattress.  Study participants exhibited no differences in blood pressure or ocular perfusion pressure between the two positions. (Published in Ophthalmology 2010 Feb 24.)

Technically, glaucoma is due to damage to the optic nerve, sometimes as a result of increased pressure of the aqueous humor, the clear, watery fluid that circulates in the chamber of the eye between the cornea and the lens. But the term glaucoma is now defined as a collection of diseases that causes optic nerve damage. As a result, the diagnosis is no longer solely based on whether a person’s intraocular pressure (IOL) is elevated or not.

For more about glaucoma causes, symptoms, and remedies, please visit our website.