Glaucoma can be treated through the use of eye drops, laser surgery, and traditional eye surgery. The goal of all these treatments is to prevent further damage from glaucoma since harm already done is irreversible and can lead to vision loss.
Here is how each treatment method works:
- Eye drops
Your optometrist may recommend the use of eye drops to treat your condition depending on their findings. These eye drops are approved for use every day to reduce eye pressure either by lowering the number of aqueous fluids that your eyes make or by helping fluids flow better through the drainage angle. The eye drops may have side effects such as itching sensations, red eyes, and blurred vision among others.
Talk to your optometrist in Wilkes-Barre about what to expect with the medication and also inform them about any other medicines you are currently taking. Also never stop or change your medication without consulting with your doctor.
- Laser Eye surgery
Laser eye surgery has gained tremendous popularity as a treatment method for many eye problems including reduction of glasses needed for driving vision and treatment of glaucoma because it’s painless, less intrusive and fast. There are two main types of laser surgery to treat glaucoma namely Trabeculoplasty and Iridotomy. Trabeculoplasty is done on patients with open-angle glaucoma, and a surgeon uses a laser to correct the drainage angle to make it work better.
Iridotomy, on the other hand, is done on patients with angle-closure glaucoma, and a surgeon uses a laser to create a tiny hole or opening on the Iris to help fluid flow well to the drainage angle.
- Traditional surgery
With traditional surgery in the operating room, eye doctors use physical tools to create a new drainage channel in the eye for the aqueous humor to exit. Two main ways in which this may be done include the use of glaucoma drainage devices or through the Trabeculectomy procedure. With Trabeculectomy, the surgeon creates a tiny flap in the white part of your eye so that the aqueous humor can drain out and be absorbed by the surrounding tissue, hence reducing eye pressure.
With glaucoma drainage devices, the surgeon implants a tiny drainage tube in your eye which sends the aqueous fluid to a collection before its absorbed into the surrounding blood vessels.
Consult your optometrist in Wilkes-Barre today for any questions on how to treat glaucoma.
