Beyond Intraocular Pressure: Integrating Occupational Therapy into Patient-Centered Glaucoma Surgical Care

Background/Objectives: Glaucoma surgical outcomes do not fully describe treatment performance, safety, or return to daily activities. This narrative review examines the rationale and evidence for a needs-based occupational therapy (OT) pathway, without assuming perioperative effectiveness. Methods: MEDLINE via PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, the Cochrane Library, and OTseeker were searched through March 2026, with targeted PubMed and reference-list updates through September 2026. Evidence was synthesized narratively and classified as glaucoma surgical, nonsurgical glaucoma, or indirect rehabilitation evidence; proposed pathway components were distinguished from evaluated interventions. Original database-specific search histories and screening counts are not reported, limiting reproducibility. Results: Glaucoma studies identify medication-administration difficulties and associations between visual field loss and impaired mobility, falls, driving, and patient-reported function. Rehabilitation intervention evidence comes mainly from other populations. No study identified in this review evaluated the integrated perioperative OT pathway. We propose preparation, protection, and participation phases, with a brief clinic-team screen and targeted OT referral according to functional needs. Procedure type, fellow-eye vision, complications, and baseline function would guide reassessment. Early studies should prioritize delivery feasibility, acceptability, assessment burden, and resource requirements; clinical outcomes would be exploratory. Conclusions: The original contribution is a testable organization of existing methods around glaucoma surgery, not evidence of a new treatment effect. Direct validation, measurement studies, and feasibility work are needed before effectiveness trials or routine pathway implementation.