For decades, glaucoma has been defined and treated almost entirely through the lens of intraocular pressure. But a growing body of peer-reviewed research reveals a far more complex picture: glaucoma is increasingly understood as a multifactorial neurodegenerative disease of the retinal ganglion cells, sharing mechanistic overlap with conditions like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. In this episode, host Maya Chandra sits down with Dr. Saikumar Gandapodi, Board-Certified Doctor of Oriental Medicine, practitioner of Ayurvedic Medicine, and Founder and Director of Netra Eye Institute.

Together they explore the mechanisms conventional care often underemphasizes — reduced ocular blood flow and Flammer Syndrome, mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, neurotrophin deprivation including BDNF, excitotoxicity, neuroinflammation, and even ferroptosis. Dr. Gandapodi explains how integrative ophthalmology and Netra Restoration Therapy approach the optic nerve as living neural tissue embedded in a whole-body biological environment, including the emerging gut-eye axis.

Grounded in landmark studies and honest about the quality of evidence, this conversation reframes traditional herbal medicine through modern network pharmacology while making clear that these approaches are adjunctive and complementary — never a replacement for proven pressure-lowering therapy. The goal is not to abandon what works, but to ask what more we can do to protect vision over a lifetime.