It's well-known that many people have been able to get medical marijuana cards by talking to a doctor about their glaucoma. Whether you have a card or are simply interested in doing whatever you can to help keep your eye pressure under control, looking to medical marijuana for help is understandable. However, it's important to know that THC isn't a replacement for your standard medications, and it may not be as helpful as you think.

THC Helps - Sort Of

There's no doubt about it - marijuana has an impact on the pressure in a person's eyes. This is where the belief that marijuana is a good treatment for glaucoma. Unfortunately, it's not a cure, nor is it a perfect treatment for glaucoma.

Marijuana lowers the pressure in a person's eyes - temporarily. A person would need to smoke a six to eight times a day in order to effectively reduce the pressure in their eyes to the point that it would be considered an adequate treatment for glaucoma. This means that you should never consider quitting your current treatments for glaucoma to try out THC or marijuana.

The Problems with Self-Medicating

Another big problem here is that people who try marijuana for their glaucoma do so without the supervision of a medical professional. If hypothetically, you took enough marijuana to lower your eye pressure on a regular basis, it could theoretically be useful to you. However, chances are you don't have the eye care equipment that a professional ophthalmologist does, meaning you can't monitor the exact eye pressure you've achieved.

Eye pressure swings both ways - it's not good for it to be too high like it can be with glaucoma, but it's also not healthy for it to drop too low. Chances are, you wouldn't be able to consume enough marijuana to harm your eyes, but you could end up not consuming enough to help, instead.

What To Do

The best thing you can do for your vision and your glaucoma is to keep up with your regular appointments with your eye care team. They know exactly what your eye pressure is, how to control it with medications, and what to look for to stop a progression or worsening of the disease.

If medical marijuana is local in your area, you can always talk to your eye doctor about the potential benefits. Under the direction of an eye doctor, medical marijuana can both be more beneficial to your eyes and less of a potential threat to your health.

Medical marijuana can help a wide range of disorders and illnesses, but glaucoma isn't actually where it excels. If you're looking for more ways to support your eye health, talk to your eye doctor about food and nutrition and other ways to help reduce the pressure in your eyes.

For more information, contact a medical office like Moninger Eye Care.