General Medical Information

Ocular Inflammatory and Corticosteroid-Induced Glaucoma

Ivan Goldberg

Ocular inflammation and/or exposure of the patient to corticosteroids may cause characteristic glaucomatous optic disc and visual field damage by elevation of intraocular pressure (IOP) and/or by ischemia or infiltration of the optic nerve head. To be effective, management requires not only precise diagnosis of the inflammation, and then treatment of both the inflammation and the underlying cause (where possible), but also, where IOP is raised, elucidation of the mechanism(s) of that elevation, and subsequent implementation of the measures relevant to the control of IOP.