Influence of pindolol and timolol treatment on the visual fields of glaucoma patients

In a prospective, multicenter, randomized, double-masked study of glaucoma patients, visual fields, intraocular pressures, blood pressures, and pulse rates were measured after a 4-week wash-out period and after three and six months of treatment with either pindolol 1% or timolol 0.5% twice daily. Both drugs reduced significantly the IOP. The blood pressure was not changed significantly whereas the pulse rate was reduced more in the timolol treated group than in the pindolol treated group. The visual fields of the pindolol group showed on the average a slight tendency towards improvement and in the timolol treated group a very slight tendency for deterioration. The difference between these two trends was statistically significant (p less than 0.05).