SCENE + HEARD: Daily Post Meditation Appears Effective for Lowering IOP in Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma By Staff Thursday, November 29, 2018 3:01 PM When patients ask what else they can do for their glaucoma besides taking their drops and coming to their appointments, glaucoma practitioners are often at a loss. This study suggests the possibility that complementary medical strategies like mindfulness meditation may play a role in helping patients cope with their disease and may actually improve outcomes.Specifically, this trial explored whether mindful meditation can lower IOP and normalize stress biomarkers in patients with open-angle glaucoma. The trial included 90 patients with primary open-angle glaucoma who were randomized into 2 groups. The treatment group took part in daily hour-long meditation sessions at 8 a.m under the guidance of a meditation instructor for 21 days. The second group served as controls. Both groups continued taking topical IOP-lowering medication.Patients who participated in meditation had marked reduction in IOP, reduced stress-related serum biomarkers and reported significantly improved quality of life after the 3-week session. The effects were not observed in the control group. Click here to read the full results of the study.