Medical Marijuana for Glaucoma in Louisiana

What Is Glaucoma?

Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness and affects nearly 3 million people in the United States. Glaucoma is a disease that damages the optic nerve, the nerve that carries information from the retina to the brain, ultimately resulting in loss of vision.

Glaucoma is approved as a qualifying condition for medical marijuana in Louisiana.

What are the Symptoms of Glaucoma?

Vision loss occurs when glaucomatous damage prevents drainage of fluid from inside the eye. Glaucoma often does not have symptoms at first, but over time people with glaucomatous damage may notice their peripheral vision has decreased.

While glaucomatous damage cannot be reversed, glaucoma can often be treated with medications or surgeries to prevent further vision loss and improve quality of life.

Although glaucoma has no cure, medical marijuana is a potential alternative treatment option for glaucoma, offering relief of symptoms such as reduced intraocular pressure, decreased pain, and decreased nausea.

How is Glaucoma Treated?

Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness. It's a chronic, degenerative eye disease that gradually destroys your optic nerve and leads to total blindness. Many people who have glaucoma aren’t even aware that they have the condition because their symptoms are often so mild at first.

By the time glaucoma is detected, it may be too late to save vision in that eye, which is why glaucoma screening is essential for everyone over 40 years old.

Glaucoma affects both eyes, but usually one at a time, and can progress without any symptoms until serious damage has already occurred, including total loss of vision. Left untreated, glaucoma will eventually lead to complete blindness as the optic nerve deteriorates entirely.

Glaucoma has many risk factors, including family history of glaucoma, high eye pressure, race, advancing age and other medical conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and injury to the eye. Although there is no known cause for glaucoma outside of severely increased pressure inside the eye, it may also be triggered acutely with loss of blood flow to the optic nerve.

Can Medical Marijuana Help with Glaucoma?

There are several potential treatment options for glaucoma, including

surgery and pharmaceutical medications. Alternative therapies such as medical marijuana, adjustments to diet, and lifestyle changes may also work in conjunction with traditional treatment options.

Studies have shown that medical marijuana can reduce pressure on the eyes caused by glaucoma, which may help prevent blindness from glaucoma related diseases.

While more research is needed to fully understand how medical marijuana can help treat glaucoma, studies suggest that medical marijuana may be able to reduce intraocular pressure by up to 25%, lasting for around 3 to 4 hours before potentially requiring another dosage.

Medical Marijuana as a Complementary Therapy for Glaucoma Patients

As a potential alternative option available in conjunction with traditional treatments, medical marijuana may help with patients suffering from increased pain, inflammation, or nausea due to the condition or the medications that are prescribed to treat it.

In some cases, traditional medications may be inaccessible due to the high costs of many glaucoma medications, and some patients choose medical marijuana as a more affordable option, though there is not enough research to conclude that medical marijuana can effectively cure or treat glaucoma by itself and it is likely best used in conjunction with traditional therapies.

Incorporating medical marijuana into your treatment plan for glaucoma may help aid in the symptoms experienced by glaucoma patients, as well as having additional benefits such as improved mood, improved sleep, and improved quality of life.

Get a Louisiana Medical Marijuana Card for Glaucoma

Medical marijuana can often be introduced to treatment plans for glaucoma as an alternative option to help reduce intraocular pressure and improve quality of life.

Because of the evidence that medical marijuana may help with treating the symptoms of glaucoma, Louisiana has approved glaucoma as a qualifying condition for medical marijuana.

To find out more about using medical marijuana for glaucoma, consult with our staff of qualified doctors that can help walk you through the path of getting medical marijuana to help with glaucoma.

Our doctors can be reached at (833) 253-2943 to help answer any questions you may have about getting a Louisiana marijuana card for glaucoma.