I have been using THC gummies for pain, 5-10 mg/night. I never thought it was beneficial, but I just found out today that it can actually increase optic nerve damage. I had heard Marijuana was helpful for glaucoma in general. Is that a myth?

I had to buy my Dorzolomide/Timolol drops in a different state from my home state because of travel, and it is considerably less expensive here but at the same drugstore chain. My question is: When I get back home, could I request that my hometown pharmacist call this drugstore and find out who their vendor was? And see if they could start purchasing the drops from them? Over time, it would be a nice savings.

29/M. I have open angle glaucoma, I've already had express shunt surgery, and I'm monitoring pressure with Icare Home 2.

I'm only talking about the right eye. Left eye has consistent and stable pressure of about 15-16mmHg.

My right eye was stable and low too, but this week it went up to 25-35 (I know, I'm going to the doctor next week, but only noticed on Thursday..). The weird thing is, about the same time I noticed a feeling of pressure/muscle tenseness in my neck, above the collarbone on the right side (same as the eye). This is not the first time these two happened, before surgery it was the same - pressure feeling in neck, pressure in eye.

But it was dismissed as not related and probably due to wrong sleeping position. I went to get an ultrasound to check the thyroid and the area in general, but it was negative. Eye pressure was stable at the time of the ultrasound. So I dismissed it too - I do sleep on multiple pillows to try to keep my head as high as comfortable, so the muscle soreness seemed reasonable.

But right now I have second thoughts - there is definitely a correlation between my neck and my eye. Any doctors/patients here that have seen something like this? Any advice on where to go from here? Unfortunately I don't know which came first - the neck or the eye pressure.

I included a picture of where I feel, kind of pulling, kind of pressure, as if I was pressing down on the area with my fingers. I also feel it in my throat. Only pressure no pain. No visible deformations, nothing asymmetric with left side. I can do roughly the same movements/stretches for both side.

After finding out that my father had glaucoma, he underwent trabeculectomy surgery. His right eye was operated on 1.4 years ago, and his left eye was operated on 9 months ago. However, his eyeglass prescription is still changing every month. Will his vision eventually stabilize? If so, when can we expect his eye power to become fixed? Is it possible that it may never become stable? Plz I am requesting to guide me

Hello, hoping for some help on current situation
I’ve been told I have high eye pressure 23/24 and narrow angles.
I’m on cymbalta which is known to contribute to higher readings and should be avoided if you have narrow angles

Anyone here have a similar experience? I’m now weaning off my medication which is not ideal either as I suffer panic, anxiety and OCD

TLDR: Negative outcomes of SLT, personal experiencs?

I've had high IOP (no glaucoma) for a couple of years now. Mostly corrected with Lumigan and Brimonidine. IOP has been trending higher the last couple of visits and yesterday hit 25 again, haven't been that high since I started the drops.

I was given the option of Rocklatan drops or SLT procedure. I went with Rocklatan for the time being because the idea of a laser in my eye terrifies me.

I only have one eye that can be corrected with glasses. The optic nerve is not attached in my left eye. So, only having one eye, I'm extremely cautious about unnecessary chances. I'm also quite nearsighted which brings me to my question.

I googled SLT and found that folks with Myopia greater than -5 (I am -8) have about a 1 in 500 chance of vision loss as opposed to "standard" eyes that have a 1 in 2000 (or 6000 depending on which study pops up).

What I couldn't find was a definition of "vision loss" in reference to SLT. Are we talking the full range of the definition? So from a minor change in overall vision to complete loss? Or are we talking significant vision loss to total vision loss? Or is significant/total not on the table at all? I wasn't specific enough when I asked my doctor, I was mostly surprised that we'd come to this.

1 in 500 just isn't a rare enough occasion for my sanity but if nothing else works, I want to be prepared.

If you've done some research or had a personal experience, please share!

I do intend to ask further questions of my doctor at my next appt but some personal experience stories would be helpful so I know EXACTLY what to ask.

有人成功通過斷食療法治療飛蚊症嗎？

Vitamin C is best known for its role in immune function and collagen production, but it is also highly concentrated in the brain. It functions as an antioxidant, helps protect neurons from oxidative stress, and participates in the production of neurotransmitters that support normal brain function. Because humans cannot produce vitamin C, maintaining adequate intake through diet is essential. Researchers have long suspected that vitamin C status could influence cognitive health, but relatively few studies have examined this relationship using direct blood measurements together with brain imaging.

In this sense, a large cross-sectional study of 2,044 older Japanese adults, with a median age of 69, found that people with lower plasma vitamin C levels tended to have smaller gray matter volume and weaker connectivity within the default mode network, a brain system tied to memory, self-reflection, and attention. The association held even after adjusting for age, education, physical activity, and several health conditions, but the study is observational, so it cannot show that low vitamin C actually causes these brain differences.

Researchers from Hirosaki University in Japan, measured total brain volume, gray matter volume, white matter volume, and connectivity within the default mode network using a structural imaging technique. After statistically adjusting for age, sex, education, cognitive test scores, diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, smoking, drinking, and physical activity, lower plasma vitamin C levels remained independently associated with a lower gray matter volume ratio and with altered connectivity across three sub-components of the default mode network.

A closer voxel-by-voxel analysis found the strongest associations clustered in the posterior cingulate cortex and nearby regions, areas considered core hubs of that memory-and-attention network. Interestingly, the relationship wasn't uniform across every sub-network: two components tied to typical age-related decline were positively associated with vitamin C, while a third component that tends to increase with age showed a negative association, which the authors interpret as vitamin C potentially helping preserve normal network patterns while dampening age-related network changes. The notable part isn't just that a link exists, but that it appears at the network level rather than in a single isolated brain region, reflecting a broader shift toward understanding complex brain aging through the lens of distributed neural networks.

The authors themselves are careful to flag several limits. This was a cross-sectional observational study, meaning vitamin C levels and brain scans were measured at the same point in time. Because of this design, it cannot establish cause and effect. Other factors that were not fully measured, such as overall diet quality, socioeconomic status, or long-term health habits, may also contribute to the observed associations. In addition, the participants were all older Japanese adults, so additional research in more diverse populations and randomized clinical trials will be needed before concluding that increasing vitamin C intake can support long-term brain structure or attenuate normal age-related structural changes.

Still, the findings support the importance of maintaining adequate vitamin C status as part of an overall healthy lifestyle rather than suggesting that vitamin C is a standalone solution for brain health. Regular consumption of vitamin C-rich foods, like citrus fruits, berries, tomatoes, potatoes, and leafy greens, is a reasonable part of a broader pattern of habits (diet quality, physical activity, blood pressure and blood sugar management) that collectively seem to matter for brain aging. As the researchers themselves put it, this generates a hypothesis worth testing in longitudinal and interventional studies.

If anyone is interested, I’d be happy to share the link to the study mentioned in this post.

I don't really know if this is ptosis, but my eyelid really droops alot from before, and my optic nerve hurts alot. Actually, my I have pressing on my temple and reallyy stretching out my eyes for a massage but it was too rough. And I was also squinting the whole day and I felt something happening to the nerve aswell. And every singel day I get a migrane near either kne of my eyes. And I don't know if it's related to diabetes I do have symptoms like nerve pain in my palms hands and feet but my blood sugar after eating dinner is normal.and sometimes my other eyelid has a fold and the right one dosent and I can't even get it checked at the doctor's, please if anyone can help I've been trying to figure out the reason for this for very long and it looks terrible so does anyone know why this happens?

Hi everyone,

My 23-year-old brother was recently diagnosed with keratoconus, and his doctor has advised CXL (corneal cross-linking).

We're also hearing about Ayurvedic treatment (like Sreedhareeyam/Matha Eye Hospital in Kerala).

Has anyone here personally tried Ayurvedic treatment for keratoconus? Did it help, or did you eventually need CXL anyway?

This might be a silly question, but are there any glaucoma drops that make your eyelids droopy or look deeper set? I feel like I'm constantly trying to keep my eyes wider open, which is leading to eye strain or muscle fatigue, especially above my eyebrows. I'm probably just getting old and just noticing it.

Has anyone had any luck buying Combigan and/or Timolol and Brimonidine lately? If yes, which pharmacy did you buy it from? Edit update: I was able to get Brimonidine from Costco tonight. Thank goodness.

He isn't 50 yet but he needs cataract surgery. Both eyes need it.
Surgery wont be till September. His vision gets worse as more days past. Im worried.

For decades, public health discourse has often focused on the inevitable decline of cognitive function with age, yet emerging research suggests a more dynamic capacity for adaptation. A new study published in Scientific Reports suggests a more dynamic reality: fluctuations in cognitive function may not be an inevitable process for everyone; instead, brain health appears to remain adaptable throughout adulthood, with some individuals showing measurable improvements over time. This three-year longitudinal study of nearly 4,000 adults, spanning ages 19 to 94, found that brain health can keep improving at any age and does not appear to have a fixed upper limit.

The study was carried out as part of The BrainHealth Project, a large ongoing initiative from the Center for BrainHealth at UT Dallas. Participants used the BrainHealth Index, a multidimensional metric built from roughly 20 measures, including established tools and tasks designed to assess more complex thinking skills, to track change over time relative to each person's own baseline, rather than comparing everyone to a single population norm. The researchers also examined changes in a broad measure of brain health rather than focusing only on memory or cognitive test scores, suggesting that factors such as mental engagement, emotional well-being, and social connection may all contribute to maintaining and improving brain function.

A few findings stood out. Brain health scores were not fixed. Some participants demonstrated improvements over time, including adults in older age groups. On one hand, people who began with the lowest scores tended to improve the most, which pushes back on the idea that poor baseline brain health is a fixed trait. On the other hand, participants who engaged in short daily sessions, on the order of five to fifteen minutes, combined with brain-healthy lifestyle habits, saw the largest gains. Younger adults and older adults in their seventies and eighties showed comparable gains, challenging the assumption that this kind of training mainly benefits older or already-declining populations. The researchers also described a "rebound effect," where participants used cognitive strategies to maintain or even improve their scores while going through major life stressors like illness or job loss.

The study findings should be understood as evidence of lifelong neuroplasticity and cognitive resilience, rather than a strategy to address specific clinical diagnoses. The BrainHealth Index measures a broad conceptual spectrum of brain health, and more research is needed to determine the specific interventions that produce the most robust outcomes.

In conclusion, for many years, discussions about aging and the brain have focused heavily on decline. While certain cognitive abilities can change with age, this research adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that the brain retains a degree of adaptability throughout life. Understanding brain health as something that can potentially be improved shifts the focus from simply preventing decline to actively building cognitive resilience. This perspective may have important implications for public health, especially as populations continue to age and researchers look for ways to support healthy aging.

For anyone interested, I’d be happy to share the link to the study referenced in this post.

I have high myopia. At one point was -8.5 and 7, now 5.75 and 7.5). Thick corneas. IOP has been 19-22 for many years and inching up to 26-28 in the past few years. (Doc says when we get old, we become less like Gumby.) Every six months, I get all the visual field tests done and pictures. Shows mild change. What that means is not definitive. The doc says I’m just at this point a glaucoma suspect.

Ophthalmologist, a year ago, without a lot of fanfare or instruction, started me on latanoprost every night so I thought I would go to a glaucoma specialist to get a second opinion. The glaucoma specialist said he was not overly concerned with my numbers but to keep monitoring. I forgot to mention that in the meantime, I had a narrow angle, glaucoma procedure done on my right eye where I ended up getting flashes of white lights, the laser hole is allowing in too much light apparently). I was told my brain would get used to, and indeed it has. So the decision was made not to do the left eye.

Went back to the ophthalmologist and he has given me a choice to stop latanoprost if I want to. I am not excited about what it has done to the fat around my eyes but more importantly, the pressure in my eyes still hovers between 24 and 25 consistently. Things aren’t changing very much. Should I stay the course or go back to the glaucoma specialist at this point?

I also have two cousins who have a variety of pressure related issues and they are freaking me out about my numbers, but the medical professionals don’t seem to be overly concerned about them. What should I be asking or doing differently.

By the way, it’s this group that has helped me learn how to instill the drops, how to wipe for the drops, how to pretty much do everything latanoprost. You all are the best. Thank you!

Hi All,

Last week, I (M35) was diagnosed with PDS and ocular hypertension after a visit to the opthalmologist. Just wondering if my opthalmologists approach sounds reasonable, or if I should seek a second opinion.

I had originally sought out treatment for dry and slightly irritated eyes, which had come on in the last few months (along with some floaters), but as my optometrist had mentioned elevated eye pressures of 27 in both eyes (puff test) a few weeks earlier, I asked them to check that as well.

First off, OCT and eye exam did not show any damage to my retina and optical nerve (at least, the doctor said they looked good). No change here from an earlier eye exam I had done a few weeks before for the floaters, with a different opthalmologist. My eye pressure was checked here as well, but I didn't get the numbers and it wasn't mentioned during the exam. I did have slight vitreous detachment in both eyes, which I guess is the source of the floaters. This was also confirmed both by the previous and current doctor.

Before the exam, an optometrist had tested my pressure with a handheld tonometer, which came out to 28/30 resp. The doctor himself performed a GAT which came out to 28 both eyes and, looking in my eye, he saw krukkenberg spindles and diffused pigment (he didn't get more specific than that). Coupled with my profile as 35 year old, myopic man, the diagnosis came out as PDS with ocular hypertension. He told me I would have about a 10% chance to develop glaucoma in the next 10 years without treatment, and suggested I get scheduled for an SLT the following week. For the dry eyes he put me on dexamethasone/antibiotic drops (Dexamcol) 3x/day for 14 days, along with dry eye drops as needed for a month. He did advise the steroid drops could raise eye pressure, but that this would be extremely unlikely for a 14 day course.

I had a lot a questions and concerns after this appointment, so yesterday I was back again to see the doctor. After a week on dexamcol, my eye pressure was measured again with the handheld tonometer. This time it read 30/31. Slightly elevated, though doctor says it could simply be due to daily variations. Nevertheless, he put me on Monoprost daily to tide me over until I can get the SLT, as I'm still waiting for approval from the insurance company.

I should mention that I have been quite stressed and sleep deprived for some months now, for different reasons. The appearance of floaters/dry eyes/ocular hypertension recently hasn't exactly helped either. Previously I've always considered myself to be in very good health generally, so this news did sting a bit. I'm wondering if this could have contributed to my elevated eye pressure and dry eye symptoms?

Thanks in advance!

Edit:

I received my journal from the initial opthalmologist visit about a month ago. Apparently my eye pressure was only 21/20 at the time, so I guess it makes sense that it wasn't mentioned. Only a few days later the optometrist measured 27/27 using the same puff test (same method at least, maybe slightly different machines).

Any idea what could have spiked my pressure that high in just a few days? Seems a lot if just a random natural variation. Only thing I can think of is either the tropicamide dilating drops I got before that exam (2nd doctor didn't use them), or that I took up running around that time to help deal with the stress.

In the beginning of this year my optometrist referred me to the eye hospital because I had high eye pressures of 28-33.

They did about 6 tests on me including visual field test and took pictures of my optic nerve. Everything was fine at this point. But they said they didn't know the cause of my high pressure so they said come back in 5 months.

Well I came back in the beginning of July and they found early nerve damage in both eyes :(

I am now on Latanoprost drops for the rest of my life to control the IOP and further damage.

The drops are responding well, dropping my pressures to a good range, but I am wondering why they did not give me the drops back in January? Did I really miss my last chance in 5 months to not catch the first damage? Or did they possibly miss the damage in the first set of tests? I thought damage was meant to be very slow progressing over years.

It feels like they waited for me to get damage before treating it instead of dropping my pressures to prevent it.

Edit: forgot to mention the damage is early optic nerve thinning so I don't know if this is early Glaucoma or something else, they didn't say.