Glaucoma

Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness for people over 60 years old. Left untreated, Glaucoma damage is permanent and cannot be reversed.

WHAT IS GLAUCOMA?  Glaucoma is a group of eye conditions that damage the optic nerve. It usually happens when fluid builds up in the front part of your eye. That extra fluid increases the pressure in your eye, damaging the optic nerve which is vital for good vision.

There are two major types of glaucoma. Primary Open-angle Glaucoma and Angle-closure Glaucoma. Primary open-angle glaucoma is the most common type of glaucoma and happens gradually. This type is painless and changes in vision develop very slowly.

Angle-closure glaucoma is a true eye emergency and can cause blindness. Angle-closure glaucoma is when the iris of the eye blocks fluid from leaving the front of the eye. Once the iris blocks the drainage angle, eye pressure rises very quickly and damages the optic nerve. Referred to as an acute attack, symptoms include sudden blurry vision, severe eye pain, headache, nausea, vomiting and/or seeing rainbow-colored rings or halos around lights.

Blindness from glaucoma can often be prevented with early treatment but once the optic nerve is damaged it is permanent. Medicine and surgery help to prevent further damage. To treat glaucoma, your ophthalmologist may use one or more of the following treatments.

Medication – Your ophthalmologist may prescribe specially formulated eye drops. When used every day, these eye drops can lower eye pressure and help you keep your vision.

Laser Surgery - Your eye surgeon may perform Select Laser Trabeculoplasty, Laser Iridotomy, or Cataract surgery to lower eye pressure.

During Select Laser Trabeculoplasty, your eye surgeon uses laser energy to correct your drainage angle and make it work better over time, helping to lower eye pressure. This is used when eye drop medications alone are not lowering your eye pressure. The procedure only takes about 10 minutes per eye.

Laser Iridotomy is used for people who have angle-closure glaucoma. Your eye surgeon creates a tiny hole in your iris using the laser. This helps fluid flow out of the eye, and helps return the iris to its normal positioning.

There is also an option for a XEN® gel stent to be surgically implanted into the eye. It is designed to lower high eye pressure in open-angle Glaucoma patients where a previous surgical treatment has failed and/or medications alone were insufficient.