4 ms·

After being diagnosed with glaucoma I did a fair amount reading about that condition. My conclusion is that aside from some specific cases (head/eye injury) no

After being diagnosed with glaucoma I did a fair amount reading about that condition. My conclusion is that aside from some specific cases (head/eye injury) nobody really knows what causes it, there are probably multiple reasons, it could be a downstream effect from other health problems, and there just isn't a lot of research to sort it out. Cynically, I feel like there is a lot of money being made just by treating eye disorders the same way its been done for decades. For example, right now, the main treatment I use for glaucoma is eye drops, which is the same treatment given to my grandmother when she was diagnosed in the 1960s. And those drops are not covered by insurance, rather expensive, and I have to take them every day forever, along with twice a year eye exams and visual field tests.

Hannan 4y ago
I don't know if this can help you or not, but Mark Cuban's Cost plus Drug Company has 3 different glaucoma drop generics available that may be cheaper than how you're getting it today? https://costplusdrugs.com/medications/categories/glaucoma/ https://costplusdrugs.com/medications/categories/glaucoma/
- trashface 4y ago
  It could help, thanks for that. It looks like the drops I use aren't on there. Problem is, its kind of a confidence game. My eye doc says to me, use brand X drops, they are the best. But they also aren't covered by insurance, and are distributed by an online pharmacy my doc _may_ have a financial stake in (I can't confirm this but I have a suspicion.) So do I ignore her advice and take different drops, which might be cheaper, but potentially have more issues with eyes down the road? I don't know. For now I've decided to take the expensive brand-name drops, and we're monitoring to see if my condition progresses or not. After a couple years of this I might switch.
  - Hannan 4y ago
    I see; that sucks. I hope you get some answers and some financial/medical relief in the future.

Hannan 4y ago

I don't know if this can help you or not, but Mark Cuban's Cost plus Drug Company has 3 different glaucoma drop generics available that may be cheaper than how you're getting it today? https://costplusdrugs.com/medications/categories/glaucoma/ https://costplusdrugs.com/medications/categories/glaucoma/

trashface 4y ago
It could help, thanks for that. It looks like the drops I use aren't on there. Problem is, its kind of a confidence game. My eye doc says to me, use brand X drops, they are the best. But they also aren't covered by insurance, and are distributed by an online pharmacy my doc _may_ have a financial stake in (I can't confirm this but I have a suspicion.) So do I ignore her advice and take different drops, which might be cheaper, but potentially have more issues with eyes down the road? I don't know. For now I've decided to take the expensive brand-name drops, and we're monitoring to see if my condition progresses or not. After a couple years of this I might switch.
- Hannan 4y ago
  I see; that sucks. I hope you get some answers and some financial/medical relief in the future.