One of the earliest therapeutic methods for treating glaucoma was greatly influenced by Bernard Becker, M.D. and Jonas S. Friedenwald, M.D., whose landmark work on the mechanics of aqueous flow introduced Diamox as a glaucoma treatment in 1954. Diamox, also known as acetazolamide, was the first — and remains the only — oral medication approved to treat glaucoma, according to Harry Quigley, M.D., the A. Edward Maumenee Professor of Ophthalmology.

“Nearly every acute glaucoma case in the world now receives it as part of initial urgent efforts to lower eye pressure,” he says. “It is also a mainstay in the treatment of elevated intracranial pressure by neurologists and neurosurgeons.”