What technology do you use in glaucoma treatment?

We have state-of-the-art technology at Eyesight Clinic. We have an eye scanning machine called the OCT which takes a three-dimensional view of the optic nerve head and the nerve fibre tissue contained inside it. We use this test to determine whether there is any abnormal disease loss from the optic nerve head induced by glaucoma.

Diagnosing Glaucoma before treatment

We also want to measure your vision. Therefore, we perform something called a visual field test, which maps out how well you see around your central vision. This test involves registering whether you can see a light stimulus in your side vision. The light stimulus can be bright or very dim. This is an essential part of the glaucoma assessment because that’s how we determine whether a glaucoma patient is losing vision over time and how quickly this vision deteriorates over time. Once you have obtained a few tests over several years (e.g. six tests over 2 or 3 years) it is possible to measure the rate of change and even to predict what the potential visual loss will be in 5 to 10 years time if the disease continues to deteriorate.

As far as glaucoma treatments are concerned, we use innovative technologies based on specific laser and surgical treatments to reduce eye pressure. There are also some new medications in development and new ways to deliver the medication.

A laser treatment called selective laser trabeculoplasty targets the drainage meshwork inside the eye, inducing a change inside the meshwork to increase its drainage and hence reduce eye pressure.

We also employ innovative technologies in a type of glaucoma surgery called micro-invasive glaucoma surgery. This type of surgery involves using devices that we put inside the eye to lower the pressure.

In the last few years, these technologies have become more widely available and have been shown to be safe. The device I mostly use is called the iStent® (made by Glaukos), which is placed inside the drainage canal of the eye to improve eye pressure reduction. We can also perform this operation alongside a cataract operation.