April 19, 2018 - Glaucoma
Hey folks, it’s Dr. Sam and I want to talk to you today about new treatments for glaucoma. This comes about from a study that was published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation. And it was a fabulous study because one of the premises that they stated in the article was that we really don’t know the cause of glaucoma. And I would agree with this. There are a lot of theories out there. Certainly part of what’s going on in the eye is that we’re not producing enough fluid in the eyeball. Also, the outflow of the fluid which runs from the front of the eye to the back of the eye doesn’t work well, which causes a starvation in the tissue of the optic nerve. This creates a visual field loss.
The only option of treatment at this point, besides surgery, is pharmaceutical eyedrops which try to balance out the fluid in the eye, which can be effective but ultimately they often don’t do a great job at solving the problem in the long-term.
Findings of the Study
So in this study, researchers found that the drainage canals in the eye called the canal of Schlemm. They were looking at the cell wall of these drainage canals and they found that there was a protein molecule that when it was deficient it actually reduced the fluid drainage through these canals and this caused glaucoma. So in these animal studies they increased the protein molecules in the cell wall of the drainage canals, and low and behold, they found that the intraocular pressure went down and glaucoma went away.
What this Means for Glaucoma Treatment
This is very promising, especially because in part of what is going on is, we know that oxidative stress is a major factor in terms of keeping your eyes healthy and facilitating proper fluid circulation throughout the eye. Some ways to do this include:
- Increase consumption of antioxidants and carotenoids like lutein, zeaxanthin, astaxanthin, and of course glutathione. These are all critically important for the drainage canals, lymph system, and for improving our cellular metabolism in terms of preventing free radical damage, which contributes to circulatory problems in the eye.
- eat plenty of green leafy vegetables, cruciferous vegetables, and other foods that reduce oxidative stress.
- get plenty of healthful fats into the diet
- consume plenty of prebiotic fiber and probiotics in order to reduce inflammation and support vascular health
- dedicate 5-10 minutes each day to this eye exercise protocol
- and lastly, holistic eye drops may be a fantastic complement to these other holistic modalities
Overall I was very happy to see this study done. I would love to see more studies done in this realm to explore the relationship between improving vascular health in the eyes and glaucoma. I would also implore studies in how circulation within the brain impacts glaucoma because there are many studies that show a direct correlation between inflammation in the brain and inflammation in the eyes.
So that’s my message for today. I want to thank you again for tuning in. And until next time take really good care.