Usually, you'll be awake during this surgery — but you'll get numbing medicine and medicine to help you relax.
While there is no cure for glaucoma, people experiencing the condition can enjoy a normal, active, and fulfilling life by keeping the condition under control to slow or prevent vision loss.
Glaucoma surgery may be carried out under local anaesthetic (while you're awake) or general anaesthetic (while you're asleep). Most people won't need to take eyedrops any more after trabeculectomy, and you shouldn't be in a lot of pain after surgery.
A trabeculectomy glaucoma operation takes about an hour to perform the surgery. We can also carry out this surgery as a day case procedure under local anaesthetic or general anaesthetic. Again we need you to come in one to two hours before the operation to get you and your eye prepared.
You will receive medicine to help you relax. You may also receive an injection or an anesthetic to numb the eye. This will keep you from feeling pain during the surgery. In some cases, you may receive general anesthesia to put you to sleep.
Depending on the surgery, your doctor may stop one or more of your glaucoma eyedrops and/or prescribe new eye drops to hasten recovery. Most people who have glaucoma surgery do not experience significant pain.
Most people feel little or no pain or discomfort during the treatment. If you have glaucoma in both eyes, your doctor may treat both eyes on the same day — or they may treat 1 eye and schedule treatment for your other eye a few days or a few weeks later.
With any of these operations, complications can occur even with the best surgical techniques. Uncommon or rare complications include bleeding inside the eye, infection, and fluid pockets behind the retina due to very low eye pressures.
Success Rate
Most of the related studies document follow-up for a one year period. In those reports, it shows that in older patients, glaucoma filtering surgery is successful in about 70-90% of cases, for at least one year. Occasionally, the surgically-created drainage hole begins to close and the pressure rises again.
Blurred Vision and Minor Discomfort
Inflammation, swelling, redness, or irritation in the eye are all common during the first few days post-surgery. You may also experience a slight itchy feeling caused by the stitches and your eyes may also tear up or water more than usual during the recovery period.
When considering how to sleep after glaucoma surgery, you should remember that you should wear your eye shield at night for a minimum of 2 weeks, or as long as you are advised to by your surgeon.
FOOD & MEDICATION INSTRUCTIONS: Do not eat or drink anything after midnight the night before your procedure, not even water. If you are on heart or high blood pressure medication you may take this the morning of surgery with a small sip of water.
If your eyes become tired with prolonged concentration, you can rest them periodically - but please don't worry that you have done them any harm. Similarly, longer distance viewing such as driving, watching TV or going to the movies does not harm your eyes.
Absolutely. The aim of treating patients with glaucoma is for them to be able to maintain their quality of life and live as normally as possible. Patients with glaucoma have a normal life expectancy and, with treatment, can carry out activities as they did before diagnosis.
Untreated glaucoma can lead to the faster development of permanent vision loss or blindness. Treatments can slow down additional vision loss, but they can't restore lost vision. It's important to see an eye doctor right away if you have eye pain, severe headaches or vision problems.
There's no coming back
There is no cure for glaucoma at this time, and surgery only stops the condition from getting worse. Any blindness from the disease prior to the procedure is permanent and will not return.
Because it happens so slowly, many people can't tell that their vision is changing at first. But as the disease gets worse, you may start to notice that you can't see things off to the side anymore. Without treatment, glaucoma can eventually cause blindness.
Although there is currently no cure for glaucoma, prompt treatment can help slow or stop the progression of vision loss. Depending on many factors, including your age and the type and severity of your glaucoma, treatment may include medications and/or surgery directed at lowering eye pressure.
If glaucoma medicines and laser treatment haven't helped to treat your glaucoma, your doctor may recommend surgery. Surgery can't cure glaucoma or undo vision loss, but it can help protect your vision and stop it from getting worse.
Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty (SLT)
Most doctors prefer this as the first option for laser glaucoma treatment.
Simple Carbohydrates: This includes bread, potatoes, rice, baked goods, pasta and cereal. These foods can elevate your insulin level which in turn raises your IOP and blood pressure. This all can worsen glaucoma. Coffee: Caffeinated coffee can raise your IOP and make glaucoma worse.
What to Expect. The entire laser trabeculoplasty process takes about 10 minutes. Your surgeon may administer a glaucoma drop immediately before and/or after the surgery as well as an anti-inflammatory drop to prevent post-operative inflammation.
The probability of failure at 5 years was 42% in the tube surgery group and 35% in the trabeculectomy group, with higher baseline IOP and inadequate IOP reduction being key causes of failure.
The procedure is similar to ALT. SLT has the benefit of being repeatable. ALT cannot be done more than twice. Laser peripheral iridotomy (LPI) is frequently used to treat narrow-angle glaucoma or to prevent glaucoma attacks in patients with anatomically narrow angles.