Glaucoma Management & Surgery
Glaucoma is a group of diseases that damage the eye’s optic nerve and can result in vision loss and blindness. However, with early detection and treatment, you can often protect your eyes against serious vision loss.
Immediate treatment for early-stage, open-angle glaucoma can delay progression of the disease. That’s why early diagnosis is very important. Narrow angle glaucoma can also be treated at an early stage with an in-office laser procedure.
Glaucoma treatments include medical therapy (primarily drops), laser trabeculoplasty, filtration surgery (trebeculectomy), drainage shunts (Ahmed or Baerveldt), or a combination of any of these. While these treatments may save remaining vision, they do not improve sight already lost from glaucoma. The appropriate treatment option is best determined by your individual disease and needs.
Conventional surgery makes a new opening for the fluid to leave the eye. Your doctor may suggest this treatment at any time. Conventional surgery often is done after medicines and laser surgery have failed to control pressure.
Conventional surgery, called trabeculectomy, is performed in an operating room. Before the surgery, you are given medicine to help you relax. Your doctor makes small injections around the eye to numb it. A small piece of tissue is removed to create a new channel for the fluid to drain from the eye. This fluid will drain between the eye tissue layers and create a blister-like “filtration bleb.”
For several weeks after the surgery, you must put drops in the eye to fight infection and inflammation. These drops will be different from those you may have been using before surgery.
Conventional surgery is performed on one eye at a time. Usually the operations are four to six weeks apart.
Conventional surgery is about 60 to 80 percent effective at lowering eye pressure. If the new drainage opening narrows, a second operation may be needed. Conventional surgery works best if you have not had previous eye surgery, such as a cataract operation.