Influence of Norethynodrel With Mestranol On Intraocular Pressure in Glaucoma

Abstract

The relationship between the endocrine secretion of the gonads and intraocular pressures is an established topic of speculation in the ophthalmic literature,¹ and several investigators have asked whether steroid sex hormones might not prove useful therapeutic agents for glaucoma.^2,7 However only Obal,³ so far as we know, has presumed to present conclusive evidence that progesterone lowered intraocular pressure in glaucoma and only Treumer,⁴ sternly critical of Obal, has presumed to present conclusive evidence that progesterone did not lower intraocular pressure in glaucoma. Leydhecker⁵ cites reports by Starodubzew, Chajutin, Kaminskij, and Gurvic on glaucoma therapy with an estrogen-progesterone combination. Two of these papers report success; two report failure. None of them is accessible to us. The fact that steroid sex hormones are nowhere in use as therapeutic agents for glaucoma speaks for itself. That an estrogen-progesterone combination should influence intraocular pressure might be suspected for at