Professor Isaac Schweitzer from University of Melbourne described a severe case of depression directly associated with the use of glaucoma eye drops. He pointed out in the October issue of the Medical Journal of Australia that glaucoma eye drops such as beta-blockers should be avoided by older people in controlling high eye pressure.

Funded by Alcon Research Ltd, a research analyzed Medicare claims and payments for glaucoma surgery between 1997 and 2006. According to results published in July 2009, the number of glaucoma surgeries was increasing and Medicare payments for these procedures were decreasing. In detail, procedure numbers and Medicare payments were in decrease from 1997 to 2000. After 2000, glaucoma procedures increased and payments from Medicare for some types of procedures decreased. According to researchers of the study, Medicare payments have long been an important component of the cost of glaucoma. Once these payments from Medicare are cut off, patients will be reluctant to receive newer technologies such as drainage devices.

Glaucoma patients have an imbalance between the production and drainage of internal fluids in the eye. These internal fluids are essential to maintain a normal intraocular pressure (IOP) so that the eye can stay globe-like shape. Certain internal structures are responsible for maintaining the normal flow of eye fluids. People with glaucoma always have high IOP because internal fluids do not drain normally and begin to build up, resulting in high IOP. High IOP will push and damage optic nerve and then vision loss can be caused.

In most cases, glaucoma eye drops are enough to control IOP and prevent eye damage. Glaucoma surgeries are always expensive and involve certain complications. For good candidates, the doctor may prescribe more than one type of drops to get best effects. These eye drops can bring down the high IOP. According to their active ingredient chemical, glaucoma eye drops can be divided into several types.

The American Academy of Ophthalmology has ever claimed that diabetic people are 25 times more likely to lose vision than normal individuals. However, there are less serious eye diseases that are also caused by diabetes, such as diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma. It is widely known that diabetic patients can not use and store sugar in a normal way, resulting in high blood sugar. This condition may damage the blood vessels and diabetic retinopathy will be caused. More seriously, scar tissue can be caused and leads to retinal detachment.

Most types of glaucoma are associated with narrow filtration angle, which hinders the outflow of eye fluids so that high IOP is caused. High IOP spikes and damages the optic nerve, which is responsible for images transmission from the eye to the brain. Optic nerve damage in turn causes vision loss.

In the United States, more than a half of the 2.5 million glaucoma patients suffer from different degrees of vision loss. Resulted from internal eye pressure (IOP) built-up and optic nerve damage, glaucoma has been the second leading cause of blindness.