A Review on Apraclonidine in Glaucoma Treatment

The word glaucoma means "opacity of the crystalline lens". It is a disease known to cause sudden vision loss. The intraocular fluid fails to drain so the drainage mechanism of the eyes gets blocked. Fluid starts building up and so the pressure inside the eyes starts increasing. The optic nerves get effected and the vision is lost. The medication is given in the form of eye drops sometimes followed by surgery. Alpha-adrenergic agonists are an important class of the medications given for glaucoma treatment including brimonidine and apraclonidine. Apraclonidine has been found to be effective (0.5-1% concentration) in lowering intraocular pressure. Its efficacy has been checked against acetazolamide, brimonidine, timolol and dorzolamide and the drug has shown promising results. It has shown greater hyotensive effect as compared to other medications and its drops have been reported to exhibit corneal biomedical response. The present review aims to cover the studies done in the last ten years on the effectiveness of apraclonidine but still a lot of work needs to be done in checking its potential with beta-blockers, other alpha-adrenergic agonists and other classes of glaucoma medication.