Menopause is a hard time in a woman’s life. Some women experience a range of physical symptoms like bad general condition and dizziness, while other enjoy life as it is. No matter which group you can relate to, chances are that you might have used or are still using estrogen pills therapy to relieve your post-menopausal symptoms. Latest studies have shown that estrogen might reduce glaucoma risk, so there is one more good thing about these pills than we’ve previously thought.

Post Menopause Estrogen Pills Reducing Glaucoma Risk

Post menopausal hormones, also known as PMH, containing estrogen might reduce the risk of primary open-angle glaucoma for women. This condition is caused by a pressure build-up in the eye which reduces the vision until it eventually leads to blindness.

Primary Research on PMH

In the past researchers have seen a pattern in women who took PMH with estrogen and the incidence for them to develop glaucoma. This led to the presumption that hormones can help reducing the intraocular pressure and scientists decided to further study the matter.

Deeper Studies on PMH

They conducted a research on women over 50 who took PMH pills. There were three classes of PMH: estrogen, estrogen and progesterone and estrogen and androgen.  Each woman was enrolled in regular oculist checks to discover any sign of developing glaucoma. Almost 2% of the women in the study developed glaucoma. For the lucky ones who didn’t develop eyesight problems the risk of developing it decreased by 0.4% for every month they took estrogen pills.

These results were obtained only in the group of women taking estrogen alone pills, while in the other groups on estrogen and other hormones there were no significant differences.

Another important observation is that the results are based only on female subjects, so researchers don’t know if estrogen pills might have the same effect on men.

Do Postmenopausal Estrogen Pills Reduce Glaucoma Risk?

Apparently they do, but further studies are needed to formulate a strong answer on this complex matter. Researchers want to find out if there is a link between glaucoma risk and any class of PMH or there is a connection only between glaucoma and estrogen alone pills. The study may be a starting point for other studies on how to use hormone-based therapy to protect our vision.

However, doctor’s strongly recommend not to enroll on PMH therapy only to stay away from glaucoma.