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Glaucoma Treatments at ilumin

Fight back against glaucoma-related vision loss with ilumin.

Fight back against glaucoma-related vision loss with ilumin.

A simple puff of air during your routine eye exam and you’ll know. An imbalance of fluid that fails to drain, eye pressure mounts, and you receive your diagnosis. Glaucoma is the leading cause of vision loss in adults aged 60 and over, and at the moment, it remains incurable. Because of this, many people simply accept that a diagnosis of glaucoma means that an expiration date has been stamped on their eyesight.

This doesn’t have to be true. First, let’s take a moment and discuss what Glaucoma really is, how it affects and ultimately robs a person of their vision, and what we can do to stop damage and prolong eyesight.

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What is Glaucoma?

Glaucoma diagnoses tend to come in one of two forms: Closed-Angle Glaucoma or Narrow-Angle Glaucoma, and Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma.

  1. Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma is the more common of the two, and occurs when the eye fails to properly drain fluid away. As the fluid builds, it begins to put pressure on the optic nerve. While the syndrome is painless and causes no evident symptoms initially, over time it can cause permanent damage to the optic nerve.
  2. Closed-Angle Glaucoma occurs when the patient’s iris is in close proximity to the drainage angle. When the iris impedes the angle, fluid drains too slowly and can cause pressure. When the iris slips entirely over the drainage angle, pressure builds very quickly and causes an acute attack, which requires immediate professional attention. If not immediately addressed, such an emergency can lead to total vision loss.

Symptoms to watch for include:

  • Suddenly seeing halos, or rainbow-colored rings around lights
  • Severe headache or optic pain
  • Nausea, vomiting, and blurred vision

Who is at Risk?

Often considered primarily an inherited condition, those with family who have suffered from glaucoma should be proactive about early diagnosis. Heredity, however, isn’t the only factor. Patients who are very nearsighted, diabetic, and of African American descent are also at a higher risk. Risks also begin climbing around the age of 35, and it becomes imperative to undergo regular evaluations.

How Can Patients Avoid Getting Glaucoma?

Unfortunately, Glaucoma isn’t something we can vaccinate against, or deter through regular hand-washing like the flu. There are a few steps you can take to lessen your risk:

  • Protect your eyes from trauma
  • Manage blood sugar levels as much as possible through diet, avoiding over-use of insulin
  • Moderate exercise, which has been shown to lower Intraocular Pressure

But the main ingredient to successfully treating glaucoma is through early diagnosis and treatment. The sooner you address it, the less chance fluid has to build and cause permanent vision loss.

What Can Be Done?

Once you have your diagnosis, there are a number of options you can talk with your doctor about.

Bimatoprost Implant

A bimatoprost implant (DURYSTA™) is a one-time injection that serves as an alternative to twice-daily drops and can typically last 4-6 months. This single injection uses a dissolvable and biodegradable implant that provides sustained-release medication to relieve intraocular pressure for people with open-angle glaucoma.

Thanks to sustained release over several weeks, this dissolvable form of medication replaces the need for topical timolol drops, which are typically administered twice each day. This bimatoprost implant can also help reduce intraocular pressure in patients with ocular hypertension. If daily topical drops are a challenge in treating your glaucoma, talk to your surgeon about this sustained solution.

Laser Trabeculoplasty

When medication is no longer sufficiently reducing eye pressure, many patients opt for Laser Trabeculoplasty to treat Secondary Open-Angle Glaucoma. During this procedure, lasers are applied to the blocked tissue, causing it to slowly open itself over a period of time. Patients report a full result (lowering of the Intraocular pressure by 30%) within one to three months. This is a temporary solution, and usually remains in effect for one and five years, depending on the level of aggression in each case.

Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty (SLT)

Selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) is a first-line treatment for patients with primary open angle glaucoma and ocular hypertension. SLT is a simple, low risk procedure that treats the trabecular meshwork (the main pathway for fluid drainage from the eye) to allow more fluid to drain from eye and thereby lower the pressure in the eye. It eliminates or reduces the need for eyedrops to control the intraocular pressure, offering glaucoma patients multiple benefits including reduced issues with ocular surface disease from drops and no risk of elevated intraocular pressure from accidentally forgetting a dose of an eyedrop. SLT compared to drop treatment was studied in the LiGHT trial. The results of this study showed better long-term disease control with SLT compared to initial drop therapy. If intraocular pressure begins to rise again after initial treatment, SLT can also be repeated.

Tube Shunt

For some patients, a tube shunt procedure is a better option than laser treatment. During a 60-90-minute-long procedure, an undetectable shunt can be placed behind the eye muscle to drain excess fluid. The shunt is not recommended for patients with advanced or severe Glaucoma, but can be an effective treatment for those who have otherwise managed with medication.

While the lifespan of each device will vary to some degree, a standard shunt shouldn’t need to be replaced for about six years.

Trabeculectomy Surgery

When other procedures and methods fail to bring eye pressure under control, Trabeculectomy Surgery places meshwork to act as a drainage system. It is sometimes referred to as a filtration surgery, and is the most common procedure when drops and medication fail.

As fluid drains through the meshwork, eye pressure stabilizes. The painless procedure leaves almost no visible evidence, and many patients are able to halt medications.

Talk to your surgeon about your predicted outcomes, and whether Trabeculectomy Surgery is right for you!

iStent Inject

Our team is especially excited about iStent Inject, the latest in dual treatment technology! iStent Inject is able to treat both Glaucoma and Cataracts simultaneously in a single procedure. Completely undetectable, painless, and providing a long-term solution to both vision stealing syndromes in one easy session. Learn more about it Here

Omni

Cutting edge research is bringing us closer every day to a cure for Glaucoma. While we aren’t there yet, Omni is bringing us a few steps closer. Omni provides a dual mechanism intraocular pressure regulation, combining two proven Glaucoma treatments in a single micro-invasive procedure. The only device of its kind, Omni addresses the entire trabeculocanalicular outflow path for those suffering Open-Angle Glaucoma. Capable of treating all three points at which resistance can be found, Omni targets the Schlemm’s Canal, Distal Collector Channels, and the Trabecular Meshwork in a single incision. The procedure can be done in tandem with treatment for Cataracts, or as a singular treatment for Open-Angle Glaucoma.

iStent

While learning you have Glaucoma can feel defeating, know that you have a team ready to exhaust every measure to protect your vision, and willing to continue the fight to ultimately find a permanent treatment. Your ilumin team is behind you!

What’s next? Reach out and we’ll help guide you to your best eye care solution.

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