Glaucoma is one of the most prevailing eye diseases in the world. It is highlighted by the increased internal pressure in the internal eye chambers, resulting in the damage of optical nerves, which ultimately leads to the loss of vision.
Most of the cases of irreversible vision loss have glaucoma as their underlying reason.
Even though FDA hasn’t approved the use of medical marijuana as a staple treatment option for glaucoma, many patients are adopting this alternative therapeutic treatment and report improvement in their condition.
According to several research studies, medical marijuana works in various ways to alleviate the symptoms of glaucoma, let’s have a look.
Medical Marijuana Aids in Reducing Intraocular Pressure
As mentioned earlier, increased intraocular pressure also known by the term ocular hypertension is a major reason for the development of glaucoma. 90% of the glaucoma cases are caused due to ocular hypertension. This increase in pressure in the internal optical chambers occurs when the rate of drainage of aqueous humor is less than the rate of its production.
Increased pressure in the anterior and posterior chamber of the eye can result in the damage of optic nerves. The severe instance of nerve damage can lead to total blindness.
A university-based research work of many years has culminated into a marijuana-based eye drop which has shown its effectiveness in reducing intraocular pressure. It has also been found out that these eye drops to increase the therapeutic impact of widely used traditional drugs prescribed for the treatment of glaucoma.
Medical Marijuana Prevents Excessive Dilation of Pupil
Patients suffering from glaucoma often experience excessive dilation of the pupil, which ultimately leads to a condition where aqueous humor traps in the optical chambers resulting in increased pressured against the cornea.
One evident case has shown that consumption of cannabis strain considerably constricts the pupil of glaucoma patients, which helps in the drainage of aqueous humor from the optical chambers.
Medical Marijuana Prevents Chronic Glaucoma with its Anti-inflammatory Action
Scientists have hinted that mild and persistent inflammation in the drainage site of aqueous humor is one of the reasons why people suffer from chronic glaucoma.
Cannabis has been studied for its anti-inflammatory actions and therefore medical marijuana products can be used to gradually treat the underlying cause of chronic glaucoma.
Apart from treating the major causes which bring about glaucoma, medical marijuana also helps in such rare cases of the disease (Closed-angle Glaucoma or CAG) where patients suffer from pain. Since medical marijuana has establishment therapeutic benefits for pain-ridden diseases, therefore the symptoms of CAG also get alleviated with the help of muscle relaxant and pain-relieving characteristics of MMJ products.
Moreover, CAG is also often accompanied by side effects such as nausea and vomiting. And we have already discussed in this section how medical marijuana effectively helps in the management of nausea.
As you can see, medical marijuana works in multiple ways to effectively treat glaucoma. You can get the respective MMJ products with doctor’s recommendation from MMJ dispensaries located in Santa Fe and Albuquerque.
