Recently diagnosed with glaucoma. how many months might it take before you know if initial treatment has stabilized condition?

The next visit: When treatment is started, we usually see patients 6-8 weeks later to check pressure, then typically every 3-4 months. Eye pressure gives some indication of stability. We also look at the appearance of the optic nerve to detect changes. Finally, formal visual field testing, done every 6-12 months, tells stability.

6-12 months: If a 30% reduction in pressure is achieved, you can be pretty sure the progression is arrested. Testing the many parameters followed in glaucoma patient (visual field, retinal nerve fiber layer, c:d volume, etc) can take a year to be sure they are not worsening.