Patient Guide
The guide Dr. Eslani gives his glaucoma patients in San Diego: how to use your drops, which exercise and yoga poses are safe, how to sleep, and an honest scorecard for food, caffeine, and supplements. Only lowering eye pressure is proven to slow glaucoma. Everything here supports that treatment; nothing replaces it.
The Honest Truth
Treatment cannot restore vision that glaucoma has already taken, but it keeps glaucoma from getting worse. No food, vitamin, or exercise replaces your drops, laser, or surgery.
Good habits help in two ways. They make your treatment work as well as it can, mostly by using your drops correctly and every day. And they help you avoid things that push eye pressure up, such as certain yoga poses, heavy straining, and sleeping with your neck bent.
This guide sorts what the research actually supports from what it does not, so you can spend your effort where it counts.
Glaucoma has no early symptoms. Never skip drops because your eyes feel fine.
Over half of people with glaucoma also have dry eye. If your drops burn, tell us instead of skipping doses; gentler drops can help.
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Habit 1 · Every day
A drop only protects your vision if it gets into the eye and stays there. These steps make each drop count.
Wash your hands. Tilt your head back, or lie down.
Pull the lower eyelid down into a pocket and put in one drop. Do not touch the tip to your eye.
Close your eyes gently for about 1 minute. Squeezing pushes the drop out.
Press the inner corner of the eye with a fingertip for 1 to 2 minutes, so less medicine gets into your body.
Wipe off any extra with a tissue.
Use your drops at the same time every day, tied to a daily routine such as brushing your teeth.
Using more than one drop? Wait at least 5 minutes between them.
Burning or dry eyes? Tell us, and do not skip doses. Gentler drops can help.
Using timolol and having trouble breathing or chest pain? Stop it and contact us.
Habit 2 · 3 to 5 times a week
Staying active is good for glaucoma. A few specific activities raise eye pressure and are worth changing.
Move 3 to 5 times a week: walking, cycling, or swimming. Gentle exercise may lower eye pressure, and in one study people who walked more lost vision more slowly.
Breathing exercises and meditation are fine.
Reading and screens are safe. They do not raise eye pressure.
Heavy lifting. Never hold your breath while straining; in one study, holding the breath doubled the rise in eye pressure during weightlifting.
Yoga poses that put your head below your heart. In one study, downward dog raised eye pressure from about 17 to 28 mmHg within two minutes.
Wind instruments. Blowing can raise eye pressure, so ask us.
Contact sports or risky work. Wear safety goggles.
Swimming or scuba diving after glaucoma surgery. Ask us first.
Worried or down about your vision? That is common. Ask us about support groups or vision rehabilitation. The Glaucoma Research Foundation (glaucoma.org), BrightFocus, and the American Glaucoma Society are trusted places to learn more.
Habit 3 · Every night and every meal
Eye pressure is often highest at night, and blood flow to the optic nerve matters too. Small changes here add up.
Raise your head with a wedge pillow, not stacked pillows. In one study, sleeping on two regular pillows raised night-time eye pressure in nearly two of three patients, likely because a bent neck slows blood drainage.
One eye worse than the other? Do not sleep on that side.
Snore or stop breathing at night? Get tested. Sleep apnea is linked to up to 40% higher odds of glaucoma.
Taking blood pressure pills? Tell us. Blood pressure that drops too low at night may worsen glaucoma, so we coordinate with your primary doctor.
Eat balanced meals: leafy greens, fruit, lean protein, and whole grains.
Sip water through the day. Drinking a lot at once can raise eye pressure.
Drink alcohol only in moderation.
Do not smoke. Smoking is linked to higher glaucoma risk and dries the eyes, which makes drops sting.
Food and Supplements
Patients ask about these more than anything else. Here is what the research shows, and what to do.
Likely helps
Spinach, kale, lettuce. In more than 100,000 adults, eating about 1½ cups a day was linked to a 20 to 30% lower risk of glaucoma. A diet rich in greens, berries, and fish showed a similar link.
Limit
Too much caffeine can raise eye pressure. In people with a strong family history of glaucoma, 3 or more cups of coffee a day was linked to more glaucoma.
Being tested
Promising, and large trials are under way. High doses injured the liver in 2 of more than 300 trial patients. Talk to us before starting, and never use niacin instead.
Unproven
Only three tiny trials have tested it, and it adds to bleeding risk if you take blood thinners.
Unproven
Fish oil and AREDS2 eye vitamins have no proven benefit for glaucoma. AREDS2 vitamins are meant for macular degeneration.
Not advised
Its effect on eye pressure is short and unpredictable, it has side effects, and better treatments exist. Glaucoma specialists do not recommend it.
Stay Safe
Some medicines affect eye pressure, and a few symptoms need same-day care.
Steroids can raise eye pressure. That includes pills, inhalers, nasal sprays, and creams used near the eyes.
Glaucoma warnings on cold, allergy, and some mood medicines mostly concern narrow-angle glaucoma. Ask us which type you have.
Severe eye pain or a very red eye
Halos or rainbows around lights
Sudden blurry vision, or nausea and vomiting with eye pain
These can be signs of a sudden pressure spike called acute angle-closure glaucoma, which is an emergency. Contact an eye doctor's office right away, or go to your nearest emergency department.
The Treatment That Works
Lowering eye pressure is the only proven way to slow glaucoma, and today there are more ways to do it than ever.
Drops
The most common starting point. Gentler, preservative-free options help when drops sting.
Laser
A quick in-office laser that can lower pressure and reduce or delay the need for drops.
Implants
Tiny sustained-release implants that deliver medicine inside the eye, so there are fewer drops to remember.
Surgery
Minimally invasive glaucoma surgery, often done with cataract surgery, and traditional surgery when pressure needs to come down further.
What the Research Says
Evidence reviewed October 2026. The guide also follows American Glaucoma Society guidance.
PLOS ONE, 2015
Downward dog produced the largest rise of four common poses, in people with and without glaucoma.
Read the study ↗Ophthalmology, 2019
People with glaucoma who were more physically active lost visual field more slowly.
Read the study ↗JAMA Ophthalmology, 2016
In more than 100,000 adults, the highest intake of leafy greens was linked to a 20 to 30% lower risk.
Read the study ↗Eye, 2023
After adjusting for other conditions, sleep apnea was linked to up to 40% higher odds of glaucoma.
Read the study ↗FAQ
Regular exams are how vision is protected. Request a glaucoma evaluation with fellowship-trained specialist Dr. Eslani.