How effective is laser trabeculoplasty for treating glaucoma? Doctors agree that laser surgery is the best alternative to eye drops for people suffering from open angle glaucoma.
The ultimate goal of laser trabeculoplasty is to decrease the pressure in the eye caused due to improper functioning of the drainage angle of the eye.
How Effective is Laser Trabeculoplasty for Treating Glaucoma: The drainage angle of the eye is treated using a focused beam of light. Laser trabeculoplasty surgery is performed in order to make the fluid flow out of the front part of the eye which in turn decreases the pressure in the eye.
- Laser trabeculoplasty is similar to most eye surgeries and it does not need the patient to be admitted into the hospital. The doctor only needs to follow up after two hours.
- This surgery helps treat open eye glaucoma in patients showing no improvement even after prolonged medication. It is also useful in treating older patients who cannot take medication any more.
Types of Laser Trabeculoplasty: There are two types of laser trabeculoplasty:
- Argon Laser Trabeculoplasty(ALT)
- Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty(SLT)
- Both the surgery types can lower the pressure in the eye by upto 75 percent. But when compared the results of SLT seem to be slightly better when compared to ALT.
- People need to continue medication even after the surgery to lower the pressure in the eye. Despite, surgery and medication pressure in the eye is bound to increase over a period of time.
- In such a case, it is not suggestible to undergo ALT surgery again. Instead, doctors believe SLT can prove to be much more effective when the surgery has to be repeated on the same patient after a few years(due to the lower level laser used in the surgery, SLT causes less scarring).
After Effects of The Surgery: The risks involved with laser trabeculoplasty can be said to be very minimal.
- The most common after effect of the surgery could be an increase in eye pressure which can be brought down within a few hours upon medication.
- Other complications like pain, decreased vision, inflammation and blockage of drainage angle may occur but they tend to recede after a few hours.
Laser trabeculoplasty can be very effective when it is performed for the first time before any other eye surgeries have been performed in patients suffering from open eye glaucoma.
How effective is laser trabeculoplasty for treating glaucoma? Well, the answer has to be a mixed one based on the existing stage and age.
