Do birth control pills contribute to glaucoma?

It always fascinates me, even as a medical doctor and board certified plastic surgeon, how various supplements, nutrients, medicines - basically anything we ingest - can be linked to a disease state.  

Now we come to learn that women who took birth control pills (BCP) for more than 3 years had TWICE the risk of glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness.  This may be due to decreased levels of estrogen which  has a protective effect on the eye.  So you just may need to be checked or screened by an opthalmologist for glaucoma.

Incidentally, if you have elevated pressure within your eyeballs, that can lead to glaucoma, your eye doctor can prescribe eye drops to reduce that pressure.

GLAUCOMA & GEOGRAPHY

As a plastic surgeon involved with aspects of physical beauty, I am drawn to information about vision. It is, after all, the principle way we experience physical beauty.

So, what could the vision problem, glaucoma, possibly have in common with geography? Well, they both begin with G.

But, seriously, there appears to be more to this than meets the eye. It seems people who live most of their lives BELOW 41 Degrees north Latitude (i.e. passes through Chicago) have a SIGNIFICANTLY lower risk of developing exfoliation glaucoma. Exfoliation glaucoma causes protein deposits in the eye which can lead to vision loss.

And here, we thought people were moving to Florida for the weather. We learn new and interesting things everyday.

Longer Eyelashes

Remember a short time ago we talked about a glaucoma drug that had as one of its side effects the growth of longer eyelashes?

The glaucoma drug is Humigen, the patent for which is owned by Allergen.

Allergen has sued seven eyelash product companies for patent infringement.

One of those companies is Jan Marini Skin Research. Jan Marini has decided to take its product off the market. The battles go on in the multi-billion dollar anti-aging, non-surgical cosmetic business!

More to come.

- Dr. Brueck