What causes cataracts & Glaucoma question

[Patsy3033]

I'm being treated for Glaucoma and have been using Azopt 3 times a day in my right eye and one drop
of Travatan in the same eye at bedtime.  I'm being treated by a Glaucoma Specialist in Mich recommended by
Dr. Anderson at Bascom Palmer.   Since starting eye drops about 7 years ago I started to develop
Cataracts.  The one in the eye being treated with drops is larger then the one in the eye not being treated
One of my questions is do Glaucoma Drops cause Cataract formation?

I see my Dr. every 3 months at my request.  My eye pressures are always 12 in each eye although
my field tests have changed throughout the time I've been treated.  My doctor tells me he still doesn't know for
certain if I have glaucoma or if my high myopia and the way my optic nerve comes in is causing the
glaucoma like readings on my field test.  He tells me my eyes are stable.  

After 7 years of treatment shouldn't my Glaucoma specialist be abe to tell if I have Glaucoma or not?
Also isn't it possible for me to have Normal Tension Glaucoma and perhaps my eye pressures being
12 are still NOT LOW ENOUGH to stop Glaucoma progression so the results on my field tests are due
to my eye pressure still being too high even at 12?

Thank you for your response.  

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Dr. Anderson is one of the best in the world. This is a very very difficult thing some times to determine if glaucoma is present or developing and its often difficult for "the best in the world". It's certainly one of the most difficult things I have to do daily.

Dial back the anxiety and see the glaucoma eye MD that Dr. anderson suggested.

JCHMD

[Patsy3033]

Dear Dr. Hagan,
Thank you for replying to my post.  You helped to put my mind at rest.
My mother had Glaucoma and although she went to the Opthomologist faithfully every year he never diagnosed her with Glaucoma.  It was only after she moved and had to get a new doctor that she began treatment. By that time she had lost a lot of vision.  When my own Opthomologist told me he thought I had Glaucoma I went to see a Glaucoma specialist.  That doctor wanted to do surgery on me after 3 months of treatment.  That's when I went to see Dr Anderson at Bascom Palmer.  Dr. Anderson spent hrs with me and although he was speaking that evening waited to give me all the test results.  He told me  "I don't know if you have Glaucoma right now Time and additional testing will tell  Right now I think you need a new
Glaucoma Doctor."   He gave me the name of my current specialist.  I see my specialist every 3 months at my request because I feel I can't drop the ball on this.  I worry that my pressures should be down in the single digits and that 12 may not be low enough.  I don't want to miss the possibility that I may have normal tension Glaucoma like my mother and the diagnosis was missed.    

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

1.  No glaucoma drops do not cause cataracts. Both cataracts and glaucoma are common as we age so they often occur together. Cataract surgery makes glaucoma better.
2. It's possible that you have pre-glaucoma or very high risk characterisitics. In that case treatment is begun before marked damage occurs.
3. If you have low pressure glaucoma then your visual fields, OCT and cup/disk ratio would worsen each year and more medicines would have been prescribed or surgery or laser recommended.

JCH MD