Glaucoma patients may need eye drops for life.
Glaucoma is an eye disease that seriously jeopardizes the health of human vision. Its onset is mainly due to the pressure on the optic nerve caused by elevated intraocular pressure, which will eventually cause optic nerve atrophy, resulting in visual field defects and vision loss.
Patients with glaucoma who are in the early or middle stage of the disease can be treated with medication, such as eye drops of carteolol hydrochloride and brimonidine tartrate, to control the intraocular pressure and stop the progression of the disease, and usually need to use the medication for a lifetime, to prevent the intraocular pressure from rising and aggravating the disease again.
Patients with glaucoma should consider surgery if the disease has progressed to an advanced stage or if medication is not effective in controlling intraocular pressure. If the intraocular pressure is well controlled after surgery, lifelong use of eye drops is usually not necessary.
Patients with glaucoma should go to the ophthalmology department of a hospital to have a specific treatment plan formulated by the doctor according to the patient’s condition.