Is Medical Marijuana A Cure To Glaucoma?

After affecting almost 60 million people worldwide, glaucoma remains second to cataract as the common cause of blindness. A terrible decrease in intra-ocular pressure due to marijuana in la and THC use has been studied as major causes of glaucoma.

Primary open angle glaucoma is most common form characterized by progressive destruction of the retina and the optic nerve. A person's visual field undergoes constriction and eventually disappears. The person is now considered blind.

Risk factors for glaucoma are consisted of three factors to consider. The first two are predisposing factors namely race and age. The third, increased intra-ocular pressure, is under a person's control whatever mode could that be.

Intra-ocular pressure is  being maintained by aqueous humor, which is considered as the fluid in the eye giving it its shape. The fluid is said to flow with the direction between the front of the eye and the back of the cornea. An  increase in  intraocular pressure would lead to restriction of  the flow of fluid from the front of the eye and the pressure rises within the eye as well. Optic nerve is somehow deprived of nutrition due to the limited flow of the fluid.

Intra-ocular pressure when reduced doesn't totally guarantee glaucoma prevention but having it as the  only controllable risk factor, we should utilize medications to sustain it.

Medications significantly reduce intraocular pressure in two principles:

1) Lessening aqueous fluid production 3) Easy flow of the aqueous humor out of the front eye

A few surgical options are otherwise recommended by doctors to achieve the same objective.

Recent studies have concluded that mairjuana and THC have shows effects in lessening intraocular pressure. Regardless if  THC is smoked, inhaled, or eaten, the goal of reducing  intraocular pressure is achieved. However direct application of cannabinoids to the eye was proven inefficient.

There's no existing study to prove that cannabinoids can really reduce IOP. Given 4 hours, IOP can be reduced using this treatment. Nevertheless consuming it 4 to 8 times a day would be effective than other medications taken only twice a day.

Psychoactive effects being a potent side-effect in long-term use of  medical marijuana in la may be difficult for the elderly to tolerate. The patient may experience "racing" beat of the heart as anxiety sets in. There is an urgency in controlling the IOP consistently to retard the progression of glaucoma.

Marijuana to date is not the first line of treatment for glaucoma due to the rising efficiency of new medications. Marijuana was found to be of lesser effectively compared to these newly developed medications. But once the need for a second or third choice of drug arises, doctors can actually resort to marijuana as needed.