Glaucoma is an eye condition that causes damage to the optic nerve. This happens due to the build up of high pressure (intra ocular pressure) in the eye. The optic nerve is crucial for our vision since it transmits the image signals from the retina to the brain. Consistent pressure on the optic nerve can even cause permanent blindness over time. Glaucoma is often inherited and develops much later in life, without any warning signs. People suffering from Diabetes are also at increased risk of getting Glaucoma.
Listed below are a few ways of glaucoma treatment that can help you get better vision:
- Medications: Glaucoma treatment with the help of simple eye drops can help protect your vision from further damages. Eye drops administered regularly as directed by the doctor, will help reduce fluid formation in the front of the eye and will increase the fluid drainage. This helps lower and control the intra ocular pressure. Depending on the severity of the disease, oral medications may also be prescribed in combination with the eye drops. These medications will control Glaucoma and give you a clearer vision by eliminating the blind spot symptoms substantially.
- Laser surgery: Another treatment option is by undergoing a laser surgery. Trabeculoplasty surgery will solve all your open-angle glaucoma-related vision problems by enhancing the eye fluid drainage function to regulate the pressure within the eye. This is done by opening the trabecular meshwork drainage area by laser beams. Iridotomy laser surgery creates minuscule holes in the eye iris to step-up the eye fluid drainage flow and is done for narrow-angle glaucoma patients. It also treats the fluid blockage problem in the eye. Cyclophotocoagulation can also be done to decrease the eye fluid production.
- Invasive surgery: A microsurgery called trabeculectomy will help solve your visionary complications if you are suffering from Glaucoma. In this surgery, microscope and special instruments are used to make a new bypass channel to aid effective drainage of the eye fluid. This microsurgery will decrease the eye pressure and future damage to the optic nerve. Microsurgery is recommended only if the medications fail to relieve your condition.
- Combination therapy: A combination therapy involving laser surgery, eye drop and oral medications may also be used to relieve you of the Glaucoma symptoms and provide you with a better vision.
- Noninvasive surgery: This new technology reduces the chances of post-surgery infection and complications. Stainless steel shunts and probe-like devices are inserted in the anterior region of the eye for fluid drainage improvement and intra ocular pressure regulation. This way the surgical side effects of temporary vision loss, bleeding, etc. can be avoided and you can have improved vision, free of Glaucoma symptoms.
- Cyanoplasty: In this type of surgery, a fine catheter is used by the surgeon for clearing the blocked drainage canal, so that the eye fluid flow is enhanced and continued without any obstruction. This, in turn, reduces the eye pressure and relieves the Glaucoma patient of its symptoms, thereby giving them better vision. Visit Manipal, the Best eye hospital in Bangalore to know more about the treatment.
Glaucoma can be a discomforting and troublesome condition, but advances in medicine have enabled doctors to restore the patients vision considerably.
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