Laser treatment for Glaucoma is a painless and effective method to treat this eye disease. It is relatively simple and performed in the office of your ophthalmologist. It has an 80 % success ratio. In 50% cases, this treatment remains effective for a period of ten years. There are different ways of performing this laser treatment.
Before understanding the process of laser treatment for Glaucoma, it is important to comprehend the causes and symptoms of this disease. Glaucoma is an eye disease that leads to permanent blindness. The visual damage caused by this disease is permanent. The most dangerous part of this disease is that it comes without any warning. It is a disease of the nerve that connects your eye to the brain. A patient of Glaucoma loses sight, slowly, but, surely.
The Different Types Of Glaucoma
There are mainly two types of Glaucoma, an open-angle Glaucoma and a narrow-angle Glaucoma.
An open-angle Glaucoma happens due to some invisible obstruction in the fluid drainage in the Trabecular meshwork. This meshwork is a structure in your eye that drains fluid. This type of Glaucoma has no symptoms. This disease uncovers itself at an advance stage, when the visual damage has already happened.
In narrow-angle Glaucoma, the iris of an eye moves closer to the drainage area. The closeness results in an increase of intraocular pressure and is a cause of narrow-angle Glaucoma. It has symptoms such as, sudden pain, redness, blurred vision, and colored haloes around lights. In a few acute cases, it shows no symptoms like open-angle Glaucoma.
Laser Treatment Vs Other Medications
You can use eye drops in order to control Glaucoma. The patient has to be very regular in using these drops, for rest of his life. To some patients, it is a difficult chore. They eye drops are very expensive and can cause unwanted side effects.
Another way of treating Glaucoma is through a traditional laser treatment called Argon Laser Trabeculoplasty (ALT). In ALT, evenly spaced burns are made to Trabecular meshwork, in order to facilitate the drainage of aqueous humor. This treatment can cause scarring to the drainage area and leaves no room for any repeated treatment, if required.
With the advancement in the laser technology, another type of treatment has come up. It is called Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty (SLT). It is an advanced laser treatment used for open-angle Glaucoma patients. Through SLT, some selective pigmented cells are stimulated or changed, in order to activate increase fluid drainage. SLT is gentler than ALT because it does not cause any burns or scarring. It has no effect on any of the associated tissues, so it can be repeated, if required. Therefore, a laser treatment for Glaucoma is a better way of handling this disease.
Prevent Your Eyes From Glaucoma
Only frequent check ups can ensure that Glaucoma is under control, therefore, you should not neglect or postpone your visit to a doctor. Even after undergoing laser treatment for Glaucoma, you must go for a complete eye examination after 3-4 months, to prevent it from reoccurring.