Wednesday, July 23, 2008

NIACIN (VITAMIN B3 or NICOTINIC ACID) INCREASES IOP

Oral Niacin Can Increase Intraocular Pressure

The intraocular pressure of a 73-year-old man with a history of primary open-angle glaucoma had been approximately 21 and 17 mm Hg in the right and left eyes, respectively, while taking latanoprost 0.005% and dorzolamide hydrochloride 2%. When taking 500 mg of oral niacin (also known as vitamin B3 or nicotinic acid), his intraocular pressure increased to 28 and 23 mm Hg in the right and left eyes, respectively. Each time the niacin was stopped, the intraocular pressure decreased to the original levels. [Ophthalmic Surg Lasers Imaging 2008;39:341-342.]

Saturday, July 19, 2008

COMPARISON OF STEROID-SPARING ANTI-INFLAMMATORY THERAPY - MYCOPHENOLATE BETTER

These data suggest that the time to control of ocular inflammation is faster with mycophenolate than with methotrexate. Azathioprine therapy has a higher rate of treatment-related side effects compared with the other 2 agents.

CATARACT SURGERY IMPROVES QUALITY OF LIFE IN ELDERLY

Vision-related quality of life, cognitive impairment, and depressive mental status are all strongly related with each other. Cataract surgery significantly improved vision-related quality of life in elderly patients, and cognitive impairment and depressive mental status also improved in parallel with improvement in vision-related quality of life.

BRAO prognosis

Visual prognosis after BRAO seems to be correlated to presenting VA. Eyes with initial VA of 20/40 or better usually remained at 20/40 or better. Individuals with poor VA of 20/100 or worse generally did not show the significant improvement reported in previous studies.

LUMIGAN HAS LESS LONG-TERM FLUCTUATION THAN XALATAN

conclusion:

Bimatoprost-treated eyes demonstrated less long-term fluctuation in IOP compared with latanoprost-treated eyes in this six-month study.