Can Laser Treatment Replace Eye Drops for
Glaucoma?
Chronic Open Angle Glaucoma, which is the
most common type of glaucoma, has no cure. Glaucoma is lifelong eye disease
that will require you to be treated throughout your life in some manner. This
may require using one or more eye drops on a daily or even more frequent basis,
by having laser treatments or even surgery-or some combination of treatments,
in order to maintain stability and prevent vision loss. in some manner. A
recent study that might be of interest to those stable glaucoma patients who in
fact use one or more eye drops each day was published in the journal Acta Ophthalmologica demonstrated that a form of glaucoma laser treatment called Selective
Laser Trabeculoplasty was able to complete replace the need for eyedrops in 77%
of stable glaucoma patients and still maintain excellent control of intraocular
pressure! In most
other patients, the laser treatment was able to reduce the number of different
eye drops used or the number of times a single eye drop needed to be used to
maintain stable eye pressure. This is very helpful for most glaucoma patients
as it reduces medication side effects and helps those who might have a tough
time instilling eye drops or remembering to use them at the prescribed time
each day.
If you or someone you know has glaucoma and
uses eye drops each day and wishes to explore the possibility of glaucoma laser
treatment or anyone concerned about their risk of glaucoma and might need to
schedule an eye exam we welcome you to call Alabama Eye & Cataract Center in Birmingham at 205-930-0930,
visit Alabama Eye &
Cataract Center,
Google+ or www.facebook.com/alabamaeyeandcataractcenter.
