High intraocular pressures can damage your optic nerve, a condition known as glaucoma. If left untreated, these eye pressures cause slow, progressive loss of your peripheral vision, and in the early stages you may not have any noticeable sign of the disease. Treatments may reduce pressure, but they often cause side effects. To avoid these complications, many people look to vitamins and minerals, such as calcium, for treatment, but calcium and other nutrients will not reduce eye pressure.
Cause
The front chamber of your eye, called the anterior chamber, contains aqueous humor, a clear fluid that nourishes surrounding tissues. Your eye produces aqueous humor at a constant rate, and the drainage angle located at the bottom of the anterior chamber allows the older aqueous humor to drain. For optimum balance, new aqueous humor must enter the eye at the same flow rate as the aqueous draining out of the eye. An imbalance in this process could lead to increased eye pressure.
Calcium
Calcium is an important mineral for your body, playing a role in strong bones and teeth. This nutrient also plays a role in the healthy function of blood vessels, muscles and nerves. Calcium may help reduce your risk of high blood pressure, reports the Office of Dietary Supplements of the National Institutes of Health. This effect, however, does not have any correlation to eye pressure. Despite the important role of calcium in many body functions and protecting you from certain conditions, calcium does not have any known role in preventing or treating eye pressures that cause glaucoma.
Treatment
Medications and supplements cannot cure glaucoma. The goal of glaucoma treatment is to reduce your eye pressure, and many people will need to take medication for the duration of their lives to ensure good pressure control. Many doctors begin treatment with eye drops, and some people may require more than one drop. In some instances, particularly if medications fail to reduce pressure adequately, your doctor may recommend a surgical procedure to help the aqueous humor drain at a faster rate.
Considerations
Glaucoma medications often result in side effects such as eye irritation and redness, and many people look to alternative treatments to avoid these complications. However, nutrients such as calcium typically will have no effect on your eye pressure. If you still want to try an alternative treatment, be sure to talk with your doctor first. She can help you evaluate the potential risks versus the benefits in trying a vitamin or mineral supplement to reduce eye pressure.
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