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West Coast Optometric Glaucoma Symposium

In this issue:

I just got back from the West Coast Optometric Glaucoma Symposium. Some new things I wanted to review:

  • Myopia is a independent risk factor for glaucoma especially patients with greater than 6 diopters of myopia.
  • 70 % of newly diagnosed open angle glaucoma have a first degree relative, parent or sibling, who also have it.
  • 23 and me has a glaucoma generic risk score.
  • Intra-ocular pressure is highest during night and is seasonal: higher in December.
  • There is a new adapter for those using drops called Nanodropper, which cuts down the size of drops by 70% allowing patients who use drops on a regular basis to get 3 times more without reducing the effectivity. We now have these adapters at our office.
  • Patients on Metformin have a lower incidence of glaucoma.
  • Nitrates from green leafy vegetables decrease glaucoma risk by 44%.
  • An additional 5,000 daily steps decreases the rate of visual field loss by 10%.
  • Mindfulness meditation 45 minutes/day decreases eye pressure by 25%.
  • There is a lot of research with computers, artificial intelligence, and deep learning. In the future glaucoma treatment will be much different. There will be computers helping us with our diagnosis and treatment plan along with many home tests that the patient will do themselves.

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