Glaucoma

In most cases, open-angle glaucoma can be effectively controlled with the use of topical medications (drops) to lower or control intraocular pressure. These drops are of permanent use. If this treatment is not enough to control the disease, a surgical treatment called filtering surgery is required. This procedure aims to create a direct route between the inside of the eye and the ocular surface, bypassing the ocular drainage system, which is damaged in glaucoma filtering surgeries:

• Trabeculectomy: creates a scleral flap whose edges allow the aqueous humor from the inside of the eye to filter onto the ocular surface, which is covered by the conjunctiva that forms a blister and serves as a reservoir for the liquid while it is driven by the lymphatic veins towards the general circulation.

• Valvular Implant: is a medical device that has a plate made of a flexible material with holes that allows the filtration of aqueous humor, which comes from the inside of the eye and is conducted through a tube whose distal end is inserted inside the eye. The flow is unidirectional, preventing the aqueous humor from going back inside the eye, thus ensuring a sterile intraocular environment and effective control of intraocular pressure.

Peripheral laser iridotomy: Closed-angle glaucoma can be prevented by performing a peripheral iridotomy, a clinical and painless procedure that is performed with a YAG Laser. It is a very effective procedure, with minimal incapacity and does not affect the patient's eyesight. Its mechanism of action relies on the creation of a hole along the periphery of the iris to modify its bulged configuration and reduce the amplitude of the chamber angle and obstruct partially or totally the drainage system of the eye.

The importance of detecting a narrow angle in time and expanding it in a timely manner with peripheral iridotomy is that it can prevent the patient from suffering an acute attack of glaucoma, which is a catastrophic medical emergency that occurs suddenly when the angle is completely closed by pupil dilatation and accompanied by the anterior displacement of the lens (usually when the patient is sleeping at night in the prone position) and by the sudden and uncontrolled increase in intraocular pressure, preventing blood flow the optic nerve, causing irreversible damage in the few hours, and quickly leading to blindness.