Exploring Treatment Options for Glaucoma: Medications, Laser Treatments, and Surgeries

https://www.prairieeye.com/Glaucoma damage is permanent—it cannot be reversed. But medicine and surgery help to stop further damage. To treat glaucoma, your ophthalmologist may use one or more of the following treatments. Both drugs and surgery have high rates of success in treating chronic open-angle glaucoma, but you can help yourself by carefully following the doctor’s treatment plan.

Medications: Always consult a specialist before getting any kind of medication or eye drop. Used every day, this eye drops lower eye pressure. Some do this by reducing the amount of aqueous fluid the eye makes. Others reduce pressure by helping fluid flow better through the drainage angle. Some patients may find it difficult to follow a regimen involving two or three different eye drops. So, some of the effective medicines are:

1. Tafluprost ophthalmic solution

2. Latanoprost

3. Bimatoprost

4. Travoprost

5. Unoprostone isopropyl ophthalmic solution

6. Latanoprostene bunod ophthalmic solution

The above mentioned medication reduces eye pressure by increasing the outward flow of fluid from the eye. 

Laser treatment: Laser surgery is the most frequently used procedure to treat glaucoma. It normally lowers eye pressure, but the length of time that pressure remains low depends on many factors, including:

1. Age of the patient

2. Type of glaucoma

3. Other medical conditions that may be present

Your doctor may use laser surgery to treat open-angle, angle-closure, or neovascular glaucoma. The doctor will perform laser surgery on an outpatient basis in the office or clinic after numbing your eye.

MIGS surgeries: MIGS means Minimally Invasive or Micro-Invasive Glaucoma Surgery. When medications do not achieve the desired results, or have intolerable side effects, your ophthalmologist may suggest surgery. The MIGS group of operations is divided into several categories:

1. Miniaturized versions of trabeculectomy

2. Trabecular bypass operations

3. Totally internal or suprachoroidal shunts

4. Milder, gentler versions of laser photocoagulation

Traditional glaucoma surgeries

MIGS procedures will not replace or eliminate traditional glaucoma surgery. Some of the traditional surgeries are trabeculectomy and tube shunt. It’s highly recommended for people with very advanced glaucoma. These surgeries have been used since so many years and have proven effective and safe.

Contact Prairie Eye Care Clinic Winnipeg today to book a consultation.