Clinical options for the reduction of elevated intraocular pressure

Ophthalmol Eye Dis. 2012 Apr 30:4:43-64. doi: 10.4137/OED.S4909. Print 2012.

Abstract

Elevated IOP in clinical practice is usually seen in glaucoma or ocular hypertension. Glaucoma affects 60 million people worldwide and 8.4 million are bilaterally blind from this chronic disease.1 Options for reducing IOP rely on pharmacological agents, laser treatments and surgery which may be penetrating or non-penetrating. The last twenty years has seen significant changes in all of these strategies. This review aims to cover these clinical options and introduce some of the new technologies currently in development for the clinical lowering of IOP.

Keywords: glaucoma; laser; ocular hypertension; pharmacological agents; reducing IOP; surgery.