Glaucoma, also popularly known as eye pressure, is a disease that occurs with imbalances in intraocular pressure. The fact that it damages the optic nerve and may cause permanent loss of vision in this case, glaucoma disease must be treated. However, the treatment process should also be controlled because glaucoma treatment can trigger different diseases. It should be said that there is a question mark especially about dry eye. So can glaucoma really cause dry eye? What kind of relationship can we talk about between the two diseases?
What is the relationship between glaucoma and dry eye?
We can say that dovepress, which published a study compiling scientific research, also gave the answer to the question.
In the evaluated studies, 10,388 patients with glaucoma were evaluated and evaluations were carried out on these patients.
According to the evaluation, it was also determined that 52.6% of patients with glaucoma had dry eye complaints.
It was also determined that patients with glaucoma had more abnormalities on the ocular surface. In the evaluated studies, it was recorded that ocular surface symptoms were detected in 41.7% of patients with glaucoma and only 25.5% of patients without glaucoma.
In a similar study, 51.3% of patients with glaucoma were found to have corneal staining, while Schirmer test scores were lower than those of patients with glaucoma.
So What is the Cause?
When the results are evaluated, it is clear that the risk of dry eye is higher in patients with glaucoma. There is also an evaluation at the point of investigating the cause of this. The evaluation was made on topical antiglaucoma drugs used in glaucoma treatment.
In the study, it was found that dry eye complaints increased by 23% in patients using 2 drugs, 63% in patients using 3 drugs, and 160% in patients using 4 drugs. In individuals using antiglaucoma drugs, tear film breakdown time decreased from 11.7 seconds to 8.3 seconds.
Conclusion
When we evaluate all these, we observe that there is a direct relationship between glaucoma and dry eye. It is understood that the drugs used for glaucoma cause this effect. Naturally, patients should be careful in drug treatment. It is important to proceed in a controlled manner and not to skip the doctor’s recommendations. In order to minimise the risk of dry eye during the glaucoma treatment process, it may be necessary to evaluate the preventive treatments that can be applied.
Source
- https://www.dovepress.com/glaucoma-and-dry-eye-disease-opportunity-to-assess-and-treat-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-OPTH#cit0034
