Surgery
Glaucoma Surgery
Occasionally, eye drops alone are not enough to halt the progression of glaucoma. In these cases, doctors may turn to surgery to help lower the eye pressure. Several forms of eye surgery are available for glaucoma, including:
Laser Treatment of the Trabecular Drain
By using special lasers focused onto the trabecular drain of the eye, your ophthalmologist may be able to cause a reduction in eye pressure. Laser surgery for glaucoma is typically painless, is performed in your doctor’s office, and usually takes only 10 to 15 minutes to complete.
Trabeculectomy
For more advanced glaucoma, or glaucoma that is unresponsive to eye drop or laser treatments, surgery in the operating room may be needed. In trabeculectomy surgery, a small drainage hole is surgically created in the eye to allow the aqueous humor eye fluid another route to drain out of the eye. This drainage site is referred to as a “bleb,” and looks like a small blister on the eye under the eyelid after the surgery has been performed. Trabeculectomy surgery usually takes 30 minutes to one hour to complete in the operating room and requires frequent postoperative visits with your doctor over the first few weeks after the surgery.
Tube Shunt Surgery
An alternative to trabeculectomy surgery is creating an alternate drain for the aqueous eye fluid by placing a small plastic tube inside the eye. The tube drains the eye fluid to a point under the eyelid in the eye socket. Tube shunt surgery is often used in situations where your surgeon thinks a trabeculectomy surgery may not accomplish the goal of lowering the eye pressure. Tube shunt surgery usually takes one half to one hour to complete in the operating room and requires frequent postoperative visits with your doctor over the first few weeks after the surgery.
