High BP and Glaucoma??

[nmum]

I'm 38 years old female, have high BP, about 40 pounds overweight, cholesterol levels good. I'm trying to exercise regularly at least for 20 minutes walking on a treadmill about 2.2 miles / hour speed. Recently the opthalmologist said that the pressure in my eye is high and I've some visual field loss and this could be glaucoma. Could high bP cause glaucoma, or the reverse. The eye forum is closed and hence the question here.
I take toprol-xl for reducing the BP, and another Beta blocker for my eyes. Would reducing the blood flow also damage the optic nerve, because of the beta blocker.

Thanks.

[Cleveland Clinic, MD]

No, systemic high blood pressure won't increase pressures in the eye or visa-versa.  Beta-blockers are used in both situations but must be administered via different routes.  There is no risk of damage to the optic nerve from beta-blockers.

[Cleveland Clinic, MD]

Dear abc,

I had an interesting discussion about your question with researcher in glaucoma. Apparently systemic bblockers are also known to affect the eye and reduce iop. There is data to show that bblocker eye drops alone can affect bp sufficiently to cause an exaggerated nocturnal bp dip. this is especially so in patients with so called normal pressure glaucoma. the pulsatile component of ocular blood flow is also reduced. it is thought that the optic nerve head is susceptible to precipitous drops in bp as it, like other cns tissue has critical watershed zones of arterial bld supply.

it is also documented that patients who are on aggressive bp Rx are particularly susceptible and they get what's called anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy. tho this is actualli infarction. they first notice this when they open their eyes in the morning.
likewise, there are anecdotal reports to suggest subjective improvemnt of visual fields in patients with normal pressure glaucoma.

However, he thought in your case the chance of any of this happening was highly unlikely.

[abc]

Dear Doctor,
Thanks for taking the effort to discuss my problem. I truly appreciate your help. I shall continue both opthalmic drops as well as Toprol and hope for the best.
Perhaps the only other question I have,what's the prognosis for my eyesight. I know this is not the right forum, but I hope you'd tell me.
Thanks again.

[Cleveland Clinic, MD]

Again, I'm not really an expert in this area but in general with proper treatment and follow-up the risk of long term damage is relatively low.