Angeles Vision Clinic
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The Use Of Marijuana in the Treatment of Glaucoma
Effective treatment for glaucoma involves the use of pharmaceutical agents or surgical procedures that prevent progressive optic nerve damage. To date, the only clinically effective method of accomplishing this is by lowering intraocular pressure.
To be a useful mode of therapy for glaucoma, a drug or surgical procedure that reduces intraocular pressure must do so without causing unacceptable damage to the eye or other parts of the body and reduce the pressure sufficiently to prevent optic nerve damage.There is evidence that marijuana (or its components), taken orally or by inhalation, can lower intraocular pressure.
There are no conclusive studies to date to indicate that marijuana (or its components) can safely and effectively lower intraocular pressure enough to prevent optic nerve damage.
The dose of marijuana necessary to produce a clinically relevant effect in the short term appears to produce an acceptable level of undesirable side effects such as euphoria, systemic hypotension and/or dry eye and conjuntival hyperemia in the majority of glaucoma patients in whom the drug has been carefully studied. No data have been published on the long-term ocular and systemic effects of the use of marijuana by glaucoma patients. However, it would be anticipated that the side effects from the use of marijuana would be comparable to those side effects reported in studies of non-glaucomatous patients.
Because glaucoma is a chronic disease, requiring ongoing therapy, in assessing the safety and efficacy of the use of marijuana in treating glaucoma, one must have data from long-term studies of the ocular side effects of marijuana.
Because the possibility exists that marijuana (or its components) may be useful in treating glaucoma, the American Academy of Ophthalmology Committee on Drugs believes that a long-term clinical study, designed to test the safety and efficacy of marijuana in the prevention of progressive. Until that time it is my recommendation this not be considered a safe and useful treatment option.