Laser therapy for glaucoma

Glaucoma is a disease of the optic nerve, which is manifested by elevated or normal values of the eye pressure, progressive damage to the nerve fibers that form the optic nerve, death of retinal ganglion cells around the optic nerve, where as a result of these processes, irreversible changes in the visual field occur.

Treatment of glaucoma depends on type of glaucoma and length of disease duration. Drop therapy, as the most common type of therapy, aims to lower intraocular pressure to values that will prevent further damage to the optic nerve. In addition to classic drop therapy, there is also laser therapy, as well as classic surgical methods.

The type of laser intervention that will be performed depends on the type of glaucoma. Laser treatment of glaucoma is an outpatient treatment, which lasts a short time, is performed under topical drop anesthesia, is completely painless for the patient and has no side effects.

Yag laser iridotomy

Yag laser iridotomy is the method of choice for primary angle-closure glaucoma. In the human eye, a liquid called aqueous humor is continuously created, the amount of which determines the intraocular pressure. The aqueous humor has its own physiological path of movement, from the place in the posterior chamber of the eye where it is created in a structure called the ciliary body, to the place of outflow in the anterior chamber of the eye called the angle of the eye (Figure 1). aqueous humor

Patients suffering from angle-closure glaucoma may experience impeded or prevented normal flow and swelling of the aqueous humor for various reasons. Using the Yag laser iridotomy method, artificial, microscopically visible openings on the iris (picture 2) are made, which establish easier paths for the movement of aqueous humor from the posterior to the anterior chamber (picture 3), and which prevent the occurrence of a sudden jump in intraocular pressure, which is characteristic of people suffering from closed-angle glaucoma. Yag laser iridotomy gives the best results when it is performed preventively in people who have narrow anterior chamber structures. This procedure is performed on an outpatient basis, takes a short time, is painless, and gives good and long-lasting results. After the Yag laser therapy, the doctor decides whether further drip therapy or some other type of therapy will be needed.