Achieving low target pressures with today's glaucoma medications.

In the 21st century there are more highly effective medical management options for glaucoma than there were in the 1980s and 1990s. In deciding among them, the clinician's challenge is to select what is clinically relevant from the large amounts of available data. In evaluating different drugs the clinician must consider not only the mean intraocular pressure (IOP) of a trial population, but also the percentage of patients achieving clinically relevant low IOPs. The consistency of IOP control throughout the day and night is also critical. Other factors such as safety, tolerability, and cost-effectiveness must also be kept in mind, with an awareness (both in human and monetary terms) of the cost of treatment failure. This overview concludes that newer medical regimens for IOP lowering address efficacy and safety issues more successfully than older ones.