Omega-3 Fatty Acids Improve Vision In Glaucoma

Neuro-rescuing glaucomatous damage

Glaucoma is a chronic, neurodegenerative disease that is the second most common cause of blindness in the world. All available treatment is focused on lowering IOP to slow the progression of the disease, with no current therapy to reverse visual field loss or improve visual acuity available. Therefore, in this article, the authors describe the use of high dose omega‐3 fatty acids to combat the neuro‐inflammation in glaucoma patients, thereby improving visual acuity and visual field in glaucoma patients.

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High doses of omega-3 fatty acids, rich in eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), could help battle neuro-inflammation in glaucoma patients and, therefore, improve visual acuity (VA) and visual field (VF) within 3 months, according to the results of a new study.

Glaucoma is a chronic, neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive death of retinal ganglion cells (RGC) and loss of RGC axons in the optic nerve. It has a long slow course with an unpredictable rate of progression. It is the second most common cause of blindness globally. In 2010, there were 61 million people worldwide with glaucoma, 25 million of who live in Europe, and these numbers are expected to increase 30% by the year 2020.

During the last 20 years, controlled clinical trials have shown that lowering intraocular pressure (IOP) is an effective way to slow progression of glaucoma damage. All available treatments focus on lowering IOP to slow the progression of the disease. The mean loss of VF tests in untreated adults with primary open angle glaucoma, which is the most common type of glaucoma, is 0.5–1.0 dB/ year and the IOP lowering therapy slows the untreated rate of progression by 50–60%.2 There is no therapy that reverses glaucomatous VF loss or improves VA... until now.

... the positive clinical improvements obtained in this pilot study [are] striking, and they demonstrate the value of high doses of EPA and DHA for neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration in glaucoma patients.