Laser treatment of glaucoma: types of operations

There are many eye diseases that, when progressing, can cause complete blindness. Physicians treat this serious and dangerous disease as glaucoma.

Older people especially often face this problem, but for some reason they do not hurry to go to the ophthalmologist. In the meantime, vision only worsens.

In this article, we'll figure out what glaucoma is and how it is treated with laser surgery.

Definition of disease

Glaucoma is a chronic eye disease that occurs with high intraocular pressure and impaired nutrition of the retina and optic nerve. Because of this, the fibers of the optic nerve gradually die, which leads to loss of vision.

Modern medicine invests in the term "glaucoma" a fairly large group of eye diseases of different origins and causes of development. Doctors have not yet determined what exactly is the beginning of the development of glaucoma.

It should be remembered that if you do not go to the ophthalmologist on time and do not dull the therapy, then the optic nerve becomes atrophied, and you can lose sight.

Usually glaucoma is manifested in the fact that the patient begins to see badly, there are painful sensations and heaviness in the eyes, narrowing peripheral vision. HThe person complains about the appearance of the rainbow when looking at the light sources, in the dark he sees much worse than in the light.

Glaucoma can be open-angle and closed-angle. The first form is diagnosed more often and is characterized by a dysfunction of the drainage system of the eyes. Usually this glaucoma occurs without symptoms. Sometimes such signs as iridescent halos, fogging may appear.

Closed-angle glaucoma is characterized by the fact that the iris closes the angle of the chamber and disturbs the outflow of fluid. There is an increase in pressure in the eyes and can begin an acute attack. It can be determined by signs such as pain in the eye and head, sharp drop in vision or blindness, redness of the eyeball, dilated pupil, iridescent halos.

during an acute attack of glaucoma, the pupil of the patient expands and loses its mobility, while it becomes slightly green.

Although glaucoma is considered an old disease, it can also appear in newborn infants. According to statistics in childhood, glaucoma is diagnosed in one case out of ten thousand. But by the age of sixty, the disease is already in two percent of the population.

The main cause of glaucoma is high intraocular pressure.The liquid inside the eye is not easily removed from it and begins to accumulate inside. Because of this, there is an increase in pressure. A glaucoma patient is noticed by a gradual decrease in vision, his peripheral vision is narrowing.

There are four types of glaucoma:

• Congenital.It develops at the stage of the embryogenesis of the eyes, when due to the appearance of some anomaly, dysgenesis of the anterior chamber angle appears. The causes may also be prenatal or postnatal oncology, trauma and so on.
• Youthful.It develops in children three years and older. The maximum threshold of occurrence of juvenile glaucoma is thirty five years.
• Primary.It occurs in people over forty and appears for no apparent reason. There are several factors that can give an impetus to the development of primary glaucoma. This includes: myopia, diabetes, low blood pressure, endocrinological problems and so on. The stages of primary glaucoma:
  1. The initial stage - the field of vision is normal, but some departments are changed.
  2. The advanced stage is the narrowing of the field of vision.
  3. A far-reaching stage is a concentric narrowing of the field of view.
  4. Terminal - blindness or residual perception of colors.

Primary glaucoma can be transmitted by inheritance.

• Secondary. It develops because of an earlier transferred eye disease, for example:
  1. Inflammation (keratitis, scleritis);
  2. Lens shift;
  3. Dystrophy of the eye (atrophy of the iris);
  4. Surgical operations of the eyes;
  5. Cataract;
• Oncological diseases of the organs of vision.

Examples of secondary glaucoma

Laser treatment

Laser surgery allows you to effectively treat glaucoma.The laser has a number of undeniable advantages, for example, painlessness, greater accuracy, non-invasiveness, short-term impact of laser pulse. The type of operation depends on the shape of the glaucoma.

Advantages of laser treatment:

• Stable after surgery.
• Absence of negative influence on the patient's body.
• Excluded postoperative complications.
• Preparation for the operation and the procedure itself do not take much time.
• Not very high cost.

Types of operations

Types of operations:

• Laser iridectomy.It is used to treat occlusive glaucoma. It is also used to prevent recurrences of acute glaucoma. During the operation, through the action of focused rays on a limited portion of the peripheral part of the iris, an aperture is created that ensures the outflow of the intraocular fluid.This operation is painless, is rarely accompanied by complications, does not require special training and is characterized by a short rehabilitation period.
• Laser trabeculoplasty. It is used in the early stages of open-angle glaucoma. Decrease in intraocular pressure occurs due to improvement of circulation of intraocular fluid. Pros of this type of operation: rapidity, painlessness, the possibility of re-holding, low risk of complications, long-term hypotensive effect.
• Nonpenetrating deep sclerectomy. With the help of the laser, the peripheral portion of the cornea membrane is thinned, which has a natural moisture permeability. The operation is performed without opening the eyeball. It also allows you to eliminate glaucoma early on, when there is no organic change in the drainage system and optic nerve fibers.

the operation is performed on an outpatient basis. Preparation with a preliminary medical examination takes about half a day.

When appointed

Laser surgery is prescribed in those cases when glaucoma is at an initial stage and dystrophic changes of the optic nerve are not yet strongly pronounced.They are also shown in those cases when conservative treatment did not lead to the desired results, sharply worsened vision if hypotensive drugs are contraindicated, to prevent the onset of acute attacks of the disease and in others cases.

After the operation, there are no negative consequences, but only if all the recommendations of the doctor are observed.Shortly after surgery, the symptoms of glaucoma disappear, and the cornea of ​​the eyes heals.

It must be remembered that laser operations also have contraindications:

• HIV AIDS.
• Autoimmune diseases.
• Cataract.
• Infectious or bacterial diseases.
• The destruction of the retina, the presence of previous operations on the eyes.
• Dystrophy of the vessels of the eye.

Cataract

Methods of conducting

There are several methods of conducting operations with glaucoma. They are divided into several groups:

• Penetrating (fistulizing) interventions - trabeculectomy.
• Non-penetrating (unphystolizing) interventions are non-penetrating deep sclerectomy.
• Interventions aimed at normalizing the circulation of the intraocular fluid - iridocycloreutraction and iridectomy.
• Interventions aimed at reducing the production of intraocular moisture-cyclocrycoagulation.

Prevention

Preventive measures that will avoid the development of glaucoma:

• Proper nutrition. Food should be rich in vitamins and minerals. Necessarily need to eat fish, dairy products, cereals. It is necessary to refrain from drinking alcohol.
• Physical activity. Only thirty minutes of active physical exercise per day and blood circulation in the eyes is normalized, which will receive enough nutrition.
• Systematic trips to the ophthalmologist. This will reveal glaucoma at an early stage.
• Medications. Eye drops and other drugs recommended by an ophthalmologist will provide nutrition to the eyes.

avoid eye strain. To do this, it is necessary to work in a well-lit room and do not forget to stretch your neck more often with a long inclination of the head.

Video

conclusions

Laser surgery can effectively treat such a serious disease as glaucoma. The laser has a number of advantages. A certain method of operation is applied depending on the form of glaucoma.

It should be remembered that avoiding the development of glaucoma will help prevent (balanced diet, rejection of bad habits and active sports) and an annual visit to the ophthalmologist.