All You Need To Know About Glaucoma Filtration Surgery

As you all know Glaucoma is a collection of interrelated eye illnesses that cause injury to the optic nerve that transmits information from the eye to the brain. In the early stages, Glaucoma typically has no indications, which is what makes it so hazardous — by the time you notice difficulties with your sight, the ailment has developed to the point that Glaucoma complications become severe and irreparable vision loss has already befallen and additional loss may be hard to stop. In most cases, it is related with higher-than-normal pressure inside the eye — a situation called ocular hypertension. But it also can happen when intraocular pressure (IOP) is normal. If untreated or abandoned, Glaucoma first causes peripheral vision loss and finally can lead to blindness.

Glaucoma frequently is called the “silent thief of sight”, because greatest types of this eye disease naturally cause no pain and produce no symptoms until obvious vision loss happens.

For this reason, symptoms of Glaucoma often develops unnoticed until the optic nerve already has been conclusively damaged, with changing degrees of permanent vision loss.

Symptoms of Glaucoma

Fortunately, the treatment of Glaucoma if provided promptly along with timely diagnosis can slow down or even prevent the vision loss. Eye drops, oral medication, laser treatment and Glaucoma surgery are the treatment options. If the IOP didn’t reduce with eye drops and oral medicines then laser treatment and Glaucoma Filtration surgery are recommended.  

What is Filtration Surgery for Glaucoma?

Filtration surgery, otherwise called Trabeculectomy, is a treatment for some types of Glaucoma that include open-angle Glaucoma and chronic condition of narrow-angle Glaucoma. It is often accomplished on patients who have not returned well to medication or laser treatment such as ALT or SLT.

How does Filtration Surgery work?

Filtration Surgery habitually provides a dramatic reduction in pressure within the eye. A small channel or ‘bleb’ is shaped to permit the drainage of fluid from the eye.

Why is it done?

The surgery is done mainly to reduce the intraocular eye pressure. Filtration Surgery is for those:

  • patients diagnosed with Glaucoma
  • whom ophthalmologist has resolute that Filtration Surgery is a suitable treatment for their condition

Glaucoma Surgery

What to expect during the surgery?

Initially, you should reach the surgery center 30-60 minutes prior to your procedure. Once you have been checked-in and settled contentedly, you will be ready for surgery.

The part around your eyes will be washed and cleaned and a sterile drape will be applied. You may be given a tranquilizer to help you relax. The ophthalmologist numbs your eye with topical or a local anesthesia. When your eye is wholly numbed, an eyelid holder will be placed among your eyelids to keep you from blinking.

Using innovative microsurgical methods and apparatus, your doctor will make a tiny new channel between the inside of your eye and the outside of your eye. A minor section of tissue will be detached, creating a channel, to let fluid to pass through the obstructed drainage network onto the white (sclera) of the eye. The cut will be closed with minor stitches and covered with the thin outer tissue of the eye, called the conjunctiva. Plasma vessels in the conjunctiva will transmit the draining fluid away.

To retain the drainage channel open, your doctor may apply an exceptionally small dose of a chemotherapeutic agent to the new filter. Your eye pressure will be examined shortly after your procedure and drops may be recommended to ease any soreness or swelling inside the eye.

You should go home and relax for the rest of the day. Most patients continue normal activities within a few days.

What to expect after the surgery?

Follow-up visits are necessary to monitor your eye pressure. It may take a few weeks to see the full pressure-lowering effect of this technique, and modifications may need to be made to the filter during this period. These adjustments may include:

  • administering of small amounts of chemotherapeutic agents
  • slackening or removal of one or more stitches
  • finger pressure to the eye to force fluid through the filter
  • numbing the eye and opening the canal slightly with a fine tool
  • insertion contact lens over the eye

Are there any risks and complications of Trabeculectomy?

Yes, there are some complications and risks involved in Trabeculectomy but at the same time, it is considered as a safe procedure. These complications include:

  • postoperative infection
  • drooping eyelid
  • double vision
  • swelling, scarring, and bleeding
  • a hole can be developed near the site of the operation
  • low IOP

Very rarely, severe complications may develop such as vision loss, hemorrhaging in the affected eye, choroidal detachment (hemorrhage in choroid) and loss of eye itself.

What are the Benefits of Glaucoma Filtration Surgery?

Trabeculectomy is endorsed as a primary treatment method or the last preference in case all nonsurgical methods have failed to correct the Glaucoma condition. An ophthalmologist will make a verdict by considering several factors counting the severity or extent of the damage and the patient’s unique conditions.

Stages of Glaucoma

What are the points to ponder?

The success rate of the technique is high, and many patients are able to adjust their eye pressure after. Yet, the surgery doesn’t promise against future pressure build-up, which means those who have high and irrepressible intraocular pressure may need another or more series of Trabeculectomy in the future.

For the Glaucoma Filtration Surgery, contact ophthalmologists at Menger Eye Centers:

The team of skilled, accomplished and board-certified ophthalmologists at Menger Eye Centers is the right choice for you if you are looking for Glaucoma Filtration Surgery in NYC. These eye surgeons and ophthalmologists provide treatment of Glaucoma in Glendale, NYC that is customized considering the conditions and needs of the individual patients.

For booking an online appointment, visit our website or call 718-386-1818

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