Glaucoma is the top cause of blindness in the United States, but early treatment controls the disease and prevents the damage that leads to vision loss.
Our specialists at Eye Care & Surgery offer comprehensive care for glaucoma. We protect your eyes by finding signs of glaucoma that appear inside your eyes long before symptoms begin.
Here’s what you need to know about glaucoma and its treatments.
Glaucoma refers to a group of conditions that damage the optic nerve. Of those diagnosed with glaucoma, 9 out of 10 have a type called primary open-angle glaucoma.
Open-angle glaucoma develops gradually as the pressure inside your eye slowly rises. The fluid inside the eye determines eye pressure (intraocular pressure).
The eye continuously produces new fluid. As it enters the eye, an equal amount of old fluid flows out to maintain steady intraocular pressure.
The system gets out of balance and the pressure rises when the old fluid can’t drain properly. As the pressure increases, it pushes against the optic nerve, gradually causing damage that affects your vision.
Glaucoma doesn’t cause symptoms until it reaches an advanced stage. But we can detect early signs of glaucoma during a comprehensive eye exam. Early identification and treatment can stabilize eye pressure, slow the disease, and help prevent vision loss.
When symptoms appear, you’ll notice the loss of peripheral vision (what you can see on the side while looking straight ahead). In some cases, you may also develop blurry vision. Without treatment, you gradually lose central vision.
Glaucoma treatment has one goal: lowering your intraocular pressure. Here’s a rundown of five treatment options for primary open-angle glaucoma:
We start open angle glaucoma treatment with medicated eye drops. There are six classes of eye drop medications, each with several different medicines. Some work by increasing drainage, while others decrease fluid production, and a few do both.
Combined eye drops containing two medications are available to enhance your results. There are also preservative-free options. Side effects like burning, itching, and eye redness are frequently due to the preservative rather than the medicine.
We may recommend oral medications such as acetazolamide (Diamox®) or methazolamide (Neptazane®). Both are diuretics that reduce fluids, including fluids in your eyes.
If eye drops don’t control intraocular pressure, you may need one of the following laser surgeries to restore drainage:
This surgery improves drainage in the existing structure, called the trabecular meshwork. Trabeculoplasty techniques include selective laser trabeculoplasty and argon laser trabeculoplasty.
Most people with primary open-angle glaucoma can have this procedure. It only takes about 10-15 minutes and can be done in the office. But those with advanced glaucoma or inflammation may not be good candidates.
During a trabeculectomy, we create a new pathway for fluids to drain. This procedure can treat most types of glaucoma, as long as the conjunctiva (the membrane covering the white part of the eye) doesn’t have any scarring.
Traditional surgery and minimally invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS) are both performed using an incision. But MIGS reduces the risks because we use microsurgical instruments and a small incision.
With both types of surgery, we create new drainage, implant a drainage tube (shunt), or modify the drainage pathways.
Cyclophotocoagulation is a last resort treatment that we consider only when medications and surgery fail to improve intraocular pressure or if you can’t have surgical procedures.
During this laser procedure, heat from the laser destroys part of the structures that produce fluid. As a result, less fluid enters the eye.
While cyclophotocoagulation can be effective, the tissues eventually heal, requiring another surgery.
Call us at Eye Care & Surgery today or book an eye exam online to learn about your risks for glaucoma or to receive expert care. Our offices are located in the Bronx and the Washington Heights section of Manhattan, New York City.
