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Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Glaucoma / July 2005Go blind from skipped dose?
Is it true that someone with glaucoma can go blind if they are several hours late taking their eye drops? The reason I ask is that my grandmother had an incident where she had been admitted to the hospital. She remembered that she needed to take her eye drops (she was about an hour late taking them) and she mentioned this to a nurse. The nurse wouldn't let her take the drops because of some reason I can't remember. My grandmother got upset and told the nurse that if she didn't take the eye drops on time (or was several hours late taking them) that she could go blind and that her doctor had told her so. The nurse laughed and said that it wasn't possible to go blind just because you were late taking a dose. My grandmother ended up getting her drops thanks to her son-in-law. So I'm wondering if it's possible or not to go blind. At this point it doesn't matter but I think it may be something useful to know for future reference. Well, I'm not an eye doctor and I certainly am not qualified to say this could never happen. But if it can, it would be only under very unusual circumstances and probably only with certain types of glaucoma. Vision loss from untreated glaucoma is normally very gradual -- so slow that people don't becomee aware of it until considerable damage has been done. That's why it's recommended that you be checked for glaucoma on a regular basis. My sister is a nurse, and she has told me that most of the time missing one or even two doses of a medication is not going to make any big difference. On that basis I once deliberately skipped a glaucoma drop that I was uneasy about, because I wanted to talk to my doctor before using that medication again. I had no problems as a result. Of course, that's not an excuse for sloppiness about taking medication. Laura >Is it true that someone with glaucoma can go blind if they are several >hours late taking their eye drops? > Is it true that someone with glaucoma can go blind if they are several > hours late taking their eye drops? [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > doesn't matter but I think it may be something useful to know for > future reference. I don't think anyone has gone blind from skipping or being late once with one's eyedrops. Doctors sometimes do one-eye trials of eyedrops in which patients go for several weeks without a particular drop in one eye, and they don't go blind, so that's probably why the nurse laughed when your grandmother said that. I imagine her doctor said it to scare her into the importance of taking her eyedrops regularly--lack of compliance is very common in glaucoma treatment. -Gudrun > Is it true that someone with glaucoma can go blind if they are several > hours late taking their eye drops? [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > doesn't matter but I think it may be something useful to know for > future reference. The evidence is not all that conclusive that taking glaucoma medication will help to prevent glaucoma. I have some of the more influential studies here, and I am still not convinced. I have not thoroughly studied them yet but intend to do so in the near future. Does anyone have any studies on Vitamin C and glaucoma? I still fear that I am only enriching the drug companies by putting these drops in my eyes. >I still fear that I am only enriching the drug companies >by putting these drops in my eyes. Don't let your ideology cost you your eyesight. Please ignore Tom's responses. He is the quinessential newsgroup stirrer who enjoys ruffling feathers and extolling his irrelevent and erroneous opinions on the unsuspecting public. I am an optometrist and I can assure you that a single late dose or even missed dose was likely to do little harm to your grandmother. I hope this clarifies your very sensible and logical question. Thank you for asking it in this forum. Best wishes Mark Sydney, Australia >> Is it true that someone with glaucoma can go blind if they are several >> hours late taking their eye drops? [quoted text clipped - 27 lines] > I still fear that I am only enriching the drug companies > by putting these drops in my eyes. "Tom" <lfs.1@spam.net> wrote in news:eYudnZRUH622OEnfRVn- pw@comcast.com: <snip> > Does anyone have any studies on Vitamin C and > glaucoma? > > I still fear that I am only enriching the drug companies > by putting these drops in my eyes. I did read one study on Vitamin C and glaucoma - however, it was done by a local ophthalmologist who left country several years ago to hide in Switzerland because of all the lawsuits against him for malpractice - I'm serious. I know two people whose eyes were ruined because of his surgical techniques and my ophthalmologist has no kind words for the quack! Sherry No, you can't go blind from missing a dose of your drops or being late on your drops. Most drops have a washout period of several days or even weeks till the beneficial effect has worn off. Don't worry. --Rick Cohn, MD Glaucoma Specialist Winter Park, FL |
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