Q. What is the reason for decrease in the visual field even after having medicines for glaucoma?
Hello doctor, I am a 60-year-old female, who weighs 198 lb and 5.7 height. I was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer 20 years ago. I am suffering from chemical depression due to chemotherapy, and so, I am on antidepressants for 20 years and on Celexa for the past three years with good results. Before five years, I was diagnosed with 90 % optic nerve damage in the right eye and 75 % damage in the left eye due to open-angle glaucoma. I am under Brimonidine Tartrate and Dorzolamide twice daily and Latanoprost once daily for the past five years with good control of glaucoma and proper visual fields. The recent visual field test showed a decrease in the visual field. Laser treatment was done again for open-angle glaucoma before a week.
Hello. I am sorry to hear about what you are going through and wish all the health in the world. Fortunately, Celexa (Citalopram) is not significantly correlated with glaucoma as a side effect, and I doubt that the progression of your disease is related to your intake of the antidepressant. Glaucoma is a chronic disease that tends to progress regardless of all actions taken by the ophthalmologist slowly. Our main approach towards glaucoma is to keep it under control because we are not able to treat it and based on your history of ophthalmic care you seem to be in good hands, but you should be very punctual on your follow-up and doctor's recommendations. You can also add artificial tears four times daily at least to that list of eye drops that you are using. Dry eye is inevitable with all the medications that you are using.