Background and Objective: Ocular surface disease (OSD) is a common yet often overlooked consideration in the management of patients with glaucoma. Although there have been several review articles summarizing the relationship between glaucoma medications and OSD, there is a relative absence of such articles on the effects of glaucoma surgical treatments. Here, we present a comprehensive review of the literature regarding the relationship of glaucoma management and OSD, with an emphasis on surgical considerations.

Methods: PubMed, Google Scholar, and Cochrane Review searches were performed using the following search terms: ocular surface, dry eye, minimally invasive glaucoma surgeries (MIGS), trabeculectomy,glaucoma medications. The titles and abstracts from those searches were screened for relevance to our review topics. Publications were included if the subjects included glaucoma patients, and if ocular surface outcomes were described. Non-English papers were excluded.
Key Content and Findings: Topical glaucoma medications frequently cause adverse effects on the ocular surface, both through direct action of the medications themselves as well as through toxicity from their associated preservatives. Optimization of the ocular surface may improve medication compliance rates.Traditional surgical treatments for glaucoma, such as trabeculectomy, can exacerbate OSD by disrupting the ocular surface but can also reduce the need for chronic medications. Optimization of ocular surface health is imperative in reducing trabeculectomy complication rates, while also potentially reducing the need for trabeculectomy in patients that are able to achieve intraocular pressure control through improved drop tolerability. The introduction of MIGS represents a promising alternative to existing therapies and has been shown to alleviate the overall medication burden. It would be reasonable to assume that decreasing the medication burden could reduce OSD prevalence and severity. However, more research is needed to directly assess the extent of improvement seen after MIGS.

Conclusions: A comprehensive understanding of the importance of OSD in medical and surgical management of glaucoma is essential in optimizing patient care and improving outcomes.

Abstract: Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an ocular imaging technique that can complement the neuro-ophthalmic assessment, and inform our understanding regarding functional consequences of neuroaxonal injury in the afferent visual pathway. Indeed, OCT has emerged as a surrogate end-point in the diagnosis and follow up of several demyelinating syndromes of the central nervous system (CNS), including optic neuritis (ON) associated with: multiple sclerosis (MS), neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD), and anti-myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) antibodies. Recent advancements in enhanced depth imaging (EDI) OCT have distinguished this technique as a new gold standard in the diagnosis of optic disc drusen (ODD). Moreover, OCT may enhance our ability to distinguish cases of papilledema from pseudopapilledema caused by ODD. In the setting of idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH), OCT has shown benefit in tracking responses to treatment, with respect to reduced retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) measures and morphological changes in the angling of Bruch’s membrane. Longitudinal follow up of OCT measured ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer thickness may be of particular value in managing IIH patients who have secondary optic atrophy. Causes of compressive optic neuropathies may be readily diagnosed with OCT, even in the absence of overt visual field defects. Furthermore, OCT values may offer some prognostic value in predicting post-operative outcomes in these patients. Finally, OCT can be indispensable in differentiating optic neuropathies from retinal diseases in patients presenting with vision loss, and an unrevealing fundus examination. In this review, our over-arching goal is to highlight the potential role of OCT, as an ancillary investigation, in the diagnosis and management of various optic nerve disorders.