Medications

Medicines that are used for acute angle-closure glaucoma prepare you to undergo either a laser iridotomy or a surgical iridotomy. They come in the form of medicated eyedrops (see How to Instill Your Eyedrops).

Prior to surgery, your ophthalmologist uses medicines to reduce the pressure inside the eye and to clear up the cloudiness of the cornea that occur during an acute attack of angle-closure glaucoma.

In acute angle-closure glaucoma, several drugs are used simultaneously to accelerate and maximize their pressure-lowering effects. The drugs lower IOP by increasing the outflow of the fluid (aqueous humor) from the eye or by decreasing the production of fluid in the eye.