- Procedure Time
1-2 hours - Anaesthesia
Local - Overnight stay
Not needed - Recovery Time
3-6 weeks
What’s Glaucoma?
Glaucoma is a disease that can cause sudden blindness, especially after the age of forties and insidiously progressing without any symptoms.
Glaucoma is a disease of the optic nerve, the nerve that carries images from the eye to the brain. The optic nerve is formed by the fusion of many nerve fibers. When optic nerve fibers are damaged, blind spots form in the visual field. These blind spots are often not detected early. When most of the optic nerve is damaged, the diagnosis is too late. When the entire optic nerve is damaged, blindness occurs.
Early diagnosis and treatment of glaucoma plays a critical role in preventing optic nerve damage and blindness from glaucoma. With early treatment, vision loss from glaucoma can be prevented.
What causes Glaucoma?
There is a clear fluid called aqueous humor that fills the anterior part of the eye. In order to keep the pressure inside the eye at a healthy level, the same amount of fluid leaves the eye while the intraocular fluid is produced at a constant rate. The aqueous humor is separated from the eye by a microscopic duct system. (This fluid has nothing to do with the tear on the outer surface of the eye.)
Since the eye is a closed system, when this microscopic canal system is blocked, the excess amount of fluid cannot get out of the eye and the fluid pressure inside the eye increases, creating pressure on the optic nerve and damaging it.
How is glaucoma detected?
Regular eye exams by your ophthalmologist are the best way to detect glaucoma. Measuring your eye pressure alone is not enough to determine whether you have glaucoma. The only sure way to detect glaucoma is to do a complete eye exam.
During your evaluation for glaucoma, your eye doctor will look for:
· Measuring your intraocular pressure (tonometry),
· Examination of the drainage angle of your eye (gonioscopy),
· Determining if there is damage to your optic nerve (ophthalmoscopy),
· Evaluation of the visual field of each eye (perimetry)
It is recommended that the optic nerve be photographed or visualized by another computerized method. All of these methods may not be necessary for everyone. In addition, these tests may need to be repeated at regular intervals to monitor for changes in your condition.
How is glaucoma treated?
There are three main ways to treat glaucoma.
Medication
First, the patient's eye pressure is lowered either by reducing the production of fluid in the eye or by increasing its output. There are drugs used for these two methods. These drugs are drops that are taken at regular intervals every day and used for life. Since each patient responds differently to these drops and there may be side effects, your doctor chooses the drug that will be suitable for you and observes the result. It is very important for patients using drugs to be followed up at intervals that their doctor deems appropriate, because over time, a decrease in drug response may develop. In this case, it may be necessary to change the drug, add another drug or resort to additional methods such as laser treatment and surgical treatment.
Laser Therapy
The laser beam is first used in the treatment of acute glaucoma crisis and to prevent the other eye from entering a glaucoma attack. Secondly, in cases of chronic glaucoma, the laser is applied to the filter-like outflow channels to facilitate the outflow of the fluid made in the eye. These two laser treatment methods are outpatient treatments without the need for an operating room. Another usage area of laser in the treatment of eye pressure is the application of laser to the white area around the colored part of the outer part of the eye. The aim is to reduce the production of eye water by destroying the region inside this part that secretes eye water. This treatment method is performed in the operating room environment, usually with local anesthesia, and the patient can go home the same day.
Surgical Treatment
If the patient's eye pressure does not decrease and the disease continues to progress despite medication or laser treatment; The treatment method to be applied is mostly surgery. Depending on the stage of glaucoma and the condition of the eye, the doctor applies one of the various surgical techniques to the patient.
People who have had glaucoma surgery should maintain regular glaucoma follow-ups.