Treatment and Monitoring

Lumber Puncture - A lumber puncture is performed to see if the CSF is raised. If it is, the excess will be drained off and the level brought down to normal. These may be performed at regular intervals to keep the condition under control.
Weight Loss - Research shows that this does not stop the disease but helps reduce papilleodema.
Medication - Acetazolomide is the most popular choice of medication. Frusemide may also be used. These are both diuretics and they reduce the amount of fluid. Sometimes a short course of steroids may be enough to re- open venous pathways and help relieve BIH.
Shunt Insertion - A shunt maybe surgically inserted to relieve abnormal fluid pressure. These are only carried out if medication and repeated Lumber Punctures are not relieving severe symptoms.
Optic Nerve Fenestration - As sight can deteriorate quickly leading to blindness this operation maybe performed to allow the fluid to drain away and prevent further deterioration of sight.