Cannabis leaf(Photo: iStock/Thinkstock)
In a 4-3 vote, the Florida Supreme Court approved the wording of a proposed amendment to the state constitution regarding medical marijuana. It will appear on the November ballot. If passed, the state will allow marijuana treatment for “debilitating medical conditions” and for other conditions for which a physician believes its use “would likely outweigh the potential health risks.”
Amendment proponents want you to know marijuana reduces intraocular pressure — the leading cause of glaucoma, an inarguably debilitating condition. Marijuana also retards the production of abnormal blood vessels — the leading cause of “wet” age-related macular degeneration, another such condition.
The National Eye Institute, the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the Glaucoma Research Foundation and the National Institute of Health want you to know that the traditional treatments for these diseases significantly outperform marijuana.
In glaucoma, elevated intraocular pressure causes optic nerve damage, reducing peripheral vision and, if left untreated, blindness. In an effort to prevent vision loss, glaucoma is controlled with surgical procedures or prescription eye drops, depending on the type of glaucoma being treated and its severity. A prominent chemical in marijuana — THC (a cannabinoid) — has been shown to reduce the eye pressure temporally in patients with glaucoma.
Inhaled, swallowed or even administered intravenously, the eye pressure reduction is brief, requiring six to eight doses to control pressure over a 24-hour period. Such frequent dosing can alter moods, and impair the mental function and ability to safely operate equipment. Conventional glaucoma eye drop medications are placed in the eye once or twice a day to achieve the same round-the-clock intraocular pressure control with minimal or no side effect.
Marijuana doesn’t just lower the eye pressure, it also lowers blood pressure. Reductions in blood flow to the optic nerve can cause damage in glaucoma patients. Whatever relief marijuana provides by reducing intraocular pressure reduction is lost to low blood pressure adversely affecting the optic nerve.
Vision loss can also occur as a result of abnormal blood vessel growth on or near the retina. This condition is often associated with macular degeneration or diabetic eye disease in the retina (diabetic retinopathy). Delicate, fragile vessels grow abnormally due to poorly controlled blood sugar in diabetic patients or inflammation in macular degeneration patients. Blood and serum leak out from a tangled, vascular web. Eventually, this causes irreversible damage to the retina and, if left untreated, rapid vision loss until blindness.
Thankfully, medical researchers have developed drugs that minimize vision loss by inhibiting the growth and promoting the regression of these abnormal blood vessels. Cannabinoids have similar anti-angiogenic properties, but drugs such as Lucentis, Avastin and Eylea significantly out-perform marijuana alternatives.
If an individual has elevated IOP or abnormal vascular growth and is using marijuana to treat nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, chronic and neuropathic pain, epileptic seizures or multiple sclerosis, medical marijuana’s ophthalmic benefits would be a welcome adjunct.
As a primary treatment for any ophthalmic disease or disorder, marijuana has been medically dismissed.
Dr. Frederick Ho is a board-certified ophthalmologist and medical director of Atlantic Eye MD and Atlantic Surgery and Laser Center, 8040 N. Wickham Road, Melbourne. For an appointment, call 321-757-7272. Learn more by visiting AtlanticEyeMD.com.
Marijuana not a fix for eye disorders
No comments:
Post a Comment