Glaucoma Treatment

Effective glaucoma treatment without hospitalization

• What is glaucoma?
• Glaucoma diagnosis in Cherkasy
• The cost and methods of glaucoma treatment

What is glaucoma?

This is a dangerous chronic eye disease which, if not properly treated, leads to irreversible blindness.

The main cause is an age-related imbalance in the production and drainage of fluid in the eye, which causes an abnormally high intraocular pressure. Usually, a clear intraocular fluid that is constantly being produced is removed from the eye by a drainage system located in the corner between the iris and the cornea.

However, if the drainage system fails to function properly, the intraocular pressure increases and this leads to optic nerve damage.

Glaucoma Symptoms
Glaucoma is insidious for the lack of clear symptoms. It is called “the silent enemy of vision.”
There are a number of signs that you should pay attention to and not neglect to visit an optometrist:

• seeing rainbow halos around lights
• eye floaters or cloudy vision

For people over the age of 40, the intraocular pressure must be checked once a year, and in the case of early-onset glaucoma, more often.

To read more about glaucoma, click on the link here – “Glaucoma”.

Glaucoma Diagnosis

At Okomedikas Clinic you can undergo a thorough eye examination and receive a comprehensive consultation concerning treatment and prevention of glaucoma.
A timely comprehensive diagnosis is of great importance!

The diagnosis includes several mandatory procedures:

• Measurement of ocular parameters – autorefkeratometry.
• Pachymetry – the process of measuring the thickness of the cornea.
• Gonioscopy – evaluation of the anterior chamber angle.
• With the Goldmann lens.
• Two methods of intraocular pressure measurement: with the Reichert pneumatonometer, with the Maklakov tonometer.

Methods and Cost of Glaucoma Treatment

The principal goal of glaucoma treatment is to normalize intraocular pressure. After an eye examination, the eye doctor determines a stage and a form of glaucoma and prescribes the necessary treatment.

Medication

With early-onset glaucoma, drug treatment is prescribed. There are special hypotensive eye drops to lower the pressure in the eye, which in turn allows to slow the progression of glaucoma.

Laser Treatment

Iridectomy is a laser treatment for glaucoma, when a laser is used to burn a tiny hole in the iris in order to create an additional channel for intraocular fluid outflow.

Laser trabeculoplasty is laser beam expansion of relevant areas of the drainage system of the eye; the technique is seen as “the gold standard” for laser surgery of glaucoma. This procedure is used in the early stages of the disease as an additional treatment aimed at reducing intraocular pressure. It can be prescribed in conjunction with medications or alone.

Laser surgery for glaucoma is absolutely painless and is performed on an outpatient basis.

Surgical Treatment

When antihypertensive eye drops and laser therapy do not give the desired result, surgical intervention is required. The most effective in the early stages is anti-glaucoma surgery i.e. deep sinus trabeculectomy or non-penetrating deep sclerectomy.

EX-PRESS Drainage Device Implantation is a modern surgical technique for glaucoma treatment. It allows you to restore the normal ocular aqueous humor outflow by implanting a special device for filtering the intraocular fluid. Valve implantation is a unique operation which helps treat complex forms of glaucoma. This way, a long-lasting stable hypotensive effect is achieved.

All current progressive approaches to glaucoma management have been successfully applied at Okomedikas Clinic on an outpatient basis, so a hospital stay is not needed.