courtcase75
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Recently I came across some posts about a glaucoma medication called levobunolol that has a few recorded cases of iris depigmentation, with at least one case going from brown eyes to blue.
As you can see in the screenshot below
Since the case is very impressive, I started wondering why there are so few recorded cases of that happening specially since many people with glaucoma use those drops, and there's plenty more recorded cases of eye color change (usually the eyes get darker) with other eye medications.
My theory is that levobunolol works on the iris, like monobenzone works on the skin. Monobenzone attacks the melanin on the skin, but the thing about monobenzone is that the results are mostly good on people with vitiligo, specifically people with white spots on more than 50% of their body for people without vitiligo it is a gamble, it can take years to see any proper results, and you might just end up with white spots on your body without fully depigmenting, some get no results, while some get "lucky" and whiten their skin anyway., monobenzone works best when the body is already attacking the melanin on the skin, so monobenzone sweeps in and does the final clean up job.
So here's why think the depigmentation process in these two might be similar.
Firstly let's understand why depigmentation with levobunolol happens:
Melanin production in melanocytes can be influenced by signals from the sympathetic nervous system.
When beta receptors are stimulated,
cellular activity increases pigment production may increase
When these receptors are blocked (as happens with beta-blockers)
cellular activity may decrease.
Levobunolol blocks beta-adrenergic receptors in the eye. This causes:
-Production of aqueous humor
-Intraocular pressure
But theoretically it could also:
alter the activity of melanocytes and reduce melanin production over time.
If melanin gradually decreases, the deeper layer of the iris which tends to appear bluish or gray due to light scattering may become more visible.
This almost never happens even if the mechanism is biologically possible, because iris melanocytes are very stable, most people do not lose pigment easily and the systemic dose from eye drops is very small.
The few cases that have been recorded are with old people, in their 60s and 70s. Aging already changes iris pigment, as people age, several things can happen to the melanocytes in the iris:
-Melanocytes can lose activity;
-Melanin granules can degenerate;
-Pigment distribution in the iris can change;
This process is sometimes called age-related iris depigmentation. In some older adults, the iris can appear slightly lighter or more washed out over time.
Like I said before, medication like Levobunolol blocks beta-adrenergic receptors, melanocytes in an older person are already less active, more fragile and producing less melanin, so
then blocking sympathetic stimulation might further reduce melanocyte activity.
The medication might not cause depigmentation directly it might simply accelerate a process that was already happening, just like what happens with monobenzone and vitiligo.
Aging tissue may be more susceptible
long-term medication exposure may unmask subtle changes without massive pigment loss.
WHY YOU SHOULDN'T LOSE HOPE
I saw the case of a South Asian guy without that used monobenzone to whiten his body, and get got pretty even results, but he didn't use monobenzone alone, he also used another whitening cream called "mequinol", the two creams combine attacked the melanin on his skin and made up for the fact that the he didn't have vitiligo.
So, I think that one might be able to do the same with levobunolol, and use two products that can disrupt the pigment on the iris, that way maybe you can achieve the depigmentation like some of the recorded cases.
So that was my theory, and I'm interested in some other ideas about this.
As you can see in the screenshot below
Since the case is very impressive, I started wondering why there are so few recorded cases of that happening specially since many people with glaucoma use those drops, and there's plenty more recorded cases of eye color change (usually the eyes get darker) with other eye medications.
My theory is that levobunolol works on the iris, like monobenzone works on the skin. Monobenzone attacks the melanin on the skin, but the thing about monobenzone is that the results are mostly good on people with vitiligo, specifically people with white spots on more than 50% of their body for people without vitiligo it is a gamble, it can take years to see any proper results, and you might just end up with white spots on your body without fully depigmenting, some get no results, while some get "lucky" and whiten their skin anyway., monobenzone works best when the body is already attacking the melanin on the skin, so monobenzone sweeps in and does the final clean up job.
So here's why think the depigmentation process in these two might be similar.
Firstly let's understand why depigmentation with levobunolol happens:
Melanin production in melanocytes can be influenced by signals from the sympathetic nervous system.
When beta receptors are stimulated,
cellular activity increases pigment production may increase
When these receptors are blocked (as happens with beta-blockers)
cellular activity may decrease.
Levobunolol blocks beta-adrenergic receptors in the eye. This causes:
-Production of aqueous humor
-Intraocular pressure
But theoretically it could also:
alter the activity of melanocytes and reduce melanin production over time.
If melanin gradually decreases, the deeper layer of the iris which tends to appear bluish or gray due to light scattering may become more visible.
This almost never happens even if the mechanism is biologically possible, because iris melanocytes are very stable, most people do not lose pigment easily and the systemic dose from eye drops is very small.
The few cases that have been recorded are with old people, in their 60s and 70s. Aging already changes iris pigment, as people age, several things can happen to the melanocytes in the iris:
-Melanocytes can lose activity;
-Melanin granules can degenerate;
-Pigment distribution in the iris can change;
This process is sometimes called age-related iris depigmentation. In some older adults, the iris can appear slightly lighter or more washed out over time.
Like I said before, medication like Levobunolol blocks beta-adrenergic receptors, melanocytes in an older person are already less active, more fragile and producing less melanin, so
then blocking sympathetic stimulation might further reduce melanocyte activity.
The medication might not cause depigmentation directly it might simply accelerate a process that was already happening, just like what happens with monobenzone and vitiligo.
Aging tissue may be more susceptible
long-term medication exposure may unmask subtle changes without massive pigment loss.
WHY YOU SHOULDN'T LOSE HOPE
I saw the case of a South Asian guy without that used monobenzone to whiten his body, and get got pretty even results, but he didn't use monobenzone alone, he also used another whitening cream called "mequinol", the two creams combine attacked the melanin on his skin and made up for the fact that the he didn't have vitiligo.
So, I think that one might be able to do the same with levobunolol, and use two products that can disrupt the pigment on the iris, that way maybe you can achieve the depigmentation like some of the recorded cases.
So that was my theory, and I'm interested in some other ideas about this.
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