Treating Glaucoma – The Best Procedures

Open-angle glaucoma is the most frequent type of glaucoma by far. You can go years without knowing you've got it, slowly and painlessly. Moreover, it has probably already caused much damage by the time you do find it. Glaucoma usually occurs in persons over 50 years old. You get it often in both eyes, but it can be worse for one particular eye. No cure is available, and over time it gets worse. The important thing is to catch it early. Once you know that you have it, you can slow it down and save your eyesight with medicine and surgery from our affordable eye care in OKC.

Glaucoma symptoms can be treated or improved with eye drops, medications, laser operations, conventional surgery or a combination. The objective of such treatments is to avoid vision loss because glaucoma vision loss is irreversible. The good news is that if glaucoma is found early, the majority of  glaucoma patients will not lose sight with medical or surgical treatment.

The regular prescription of medications is crucial to prevent damage to the vision. Therefore, it's important for you to talk to your doctor about side effects. It is important to note that while each medicine has some possible side effects, many of the patients have no side effects. You and your physician must work as a team to fight glaucoma.

Laser Surgery

The step between drugs and conventional surgery is becoming ever more popular, but long-term success rates may differ. For open-angle glaucoma, Trabeculoplasty is the most common type of treatment. This procedure is painless and could be carried out in our affordable eye care center in OKC for 10-15 minutes. The laser beam concentrates on the drain of the eye. Unlike many people think, the laser doesn't burn a hole in the eye. Rather, the drainage system of the eye is changed very subtly, making it easier for aqueous fluid to exit the drain and lower intraocular pressure.

Argon Laser Trabeculoplasty (ALT)

The laser takes care of the eye's trabecular malfunction and increases drainage exit, reducing the eye pressure. Medication is still necessary in several cases. Half of the trabecular meshwork is usually first treated. The other part can be considered as a different process if necessary. The increased pressure risk after an operation is reduced through this method. Up to 75% of the patients that are treated with ALT succeeded in decreasing eye pressure. Only 2 to 3 times in each eye during a lifetime can this type of laser be carried out.

Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty (SLT)

SLT is a new laser with very low energy output. It is called "selective" because parts of the trabecular meshwork are left untouched. That is why, unlike other kinds of laser operation, SLT can be repeated safely. Some doctors have used a second repeated application of SLT or SLT before ALT.

Trabeculectomy

Our doctors may recommend conventional surgery if medication and laser therapies do not lower eye pressure appropriately. Trabeculectomy is the most common of these operations used in open angle and closed angle glaucoma. During this procedure, the surgeon creates a drain for excess eye fluid through the sclera (the white part of the eye). A flap that permits the escaping liquid, but does not deflate the eyeball, is created. An opening on the eye surface, which is the sign that fluid drains in the space between the sclera and the conjunctiva, often forms a small fluid bubble.

For treating your glaucoma come to Korber Eyecare and Surgery Center, here at our affordable eye care in OKC, you will get a great opportunity to treat eyes for long term vision health.

**Disclaimer: The above post should not substitute medical advice nor does it create a patient-doctor relationship.