Both Glaucoma Specialist Dr. Shefali Parikh & Dr. Rajul S Parikh are renowned glaucoma surgeons have performed more than 8,000 glaucoma surgeries togetherinclusing small 5 day old baby.
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.
There are a few different types of surgery for glaucoma that can help lower the pressure in your eye:
- Trabeculectomy
- Glaucoma implant surgery with Ahmed Glaucoma Valve
- Various types Minimally invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS)
- Glaucoma surgeries for small babies (Congenital Glaucoma)
- Goniotomy
- Trabeculotomy
- Combine Trabeculotomy with Trabeculectomy
If you need glaucoma surgery in both eyes, your doctor will only do surgery on 1 eye at a time.
What is trabeculectomy?
Surgery is done as a day-care in a hospital and usually takes less than an hour. The surgeon will create a tiny opening in the top of your eye. The opening will be under your eyelid, where no one will see it. This opening allows extra fluid in your eye to drain away, lowering pressure in your eye.
Usually, you’ll be awake during this surgery — but you’ll get numbing medicine and medicine to help you relax. You can usually go home the same day, but you’ll need someone to drive you home.
What is glaucoma implant surgery?
This type of surgery is used to treat several types of glaucoma, including congenital glaucoma, neovascular glaucoma, and glaucoma caused by an injury. It’s done in a hospital and usually takes up to 1 hour.
In this operation, the surgeon implants a tiny tube, or shunt, onto the white part of your eye. The tube helps extra fluid drain out of your eye, lowering your eye pressure.
What is minimally invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS)?
If you have mild glaucoma, your doctor may recommend a new approach called minimally invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS). This also lowers eye pressure, but it has fewer risks and side effects and helps you recover faster.
There are different types of MIGS, so ask your eye doctor about whether MIGS may be an option for you.
What happens after surgery?
Your doctor will prescribe eye drops to help prevent swelling and infections, and you’ll need to use them for several weeks. These eye drops are different from other glaucoma eye drops you may already use. While you recover, you may need to avoid some activities for 4 to 12 weeks, like lifting anything heavy. You’ll also need check-ups with your doctor to make sure your eye is healing well.