LASIK Facts

If you are serious about keeping your vision and maintaining your eye health, then you will want to make sure that you have regular exams. Screening for glaucoma is a quick and easy test, yet many people do not get it done. It is a serious tragedy that so many people are going blind because of a disease that can be treated by medication or surgery.

Glaucoma is a term that doctors have given to four eye diseases. What the four types of glaucoma have in common is how they destroy vision. Glaucoma occurs when the optic nerve becomes destroyed due to pressure or lack of blood supply. Doctors are not sure exactly why this happens in some people and not in others. The people at highest risk of glaucoma are black people, people over 40, and anyone with a history of the disease in their family. Doctors will first try to treat glaucoma with medications, but if this doesn’t work then a surgical procedure is the last option. There are two types of operations that can be performed to treat glaucoma; traditional and laser.

Both traditional and laser surgery can make a world of difference in treating glaucoma. Doctors will only turn to an operation as a last resort after every other treatment has failed to work. Sometimes a glaucoma operation can cause cataracts, but they are very treatable. Laser trabeculoplasty is an operation used for open angle glaucoma. This operation is safe and fast and requires almost no recuperation time. The laser is aimed at drainage channels in the eye; a tiny hole will be made to help the fluid drain out. Trabeculectomy is a traditional surgical operation. In this operation a tiny hole is made in the white part of the eye, to help in fluid drainage. Recovery time from this type of operation can be up to eight weeks. Drain implantation involves putting a microscopic plastic tube inside the eye to improve drainage and pressure. The last type of operation is cyclophotocoagulation. In this procedure a laser is used on the surface of the eye to try to disrupt the part of the eye that produces fluid. This procedure is the most dangerous and can cause a decrease in vision, which is why doctors use it as a last resort.

Having surgery for glaucoma is not something that anybody wants to have to go through. The good news is that if a person takes care of their eye health and gets regular exams, then there is a chance they might never have to have a glaucoma operation. Taking care of yourself is always the smartest thing to do.