Glaucoma Treatment
At Beverly Hills Vision Institute, SLT and PI laser treatments for glaucoma are performed by Dr. Khodabakhsh. Open-angle glaucoma threatens the sight of more than 50 million people worldwide. Eye drops are commonly used to control glaucoma, but they are expensive, messy and must be used for the patient’s entire life. Selective laser trabeculoplasty or SLT is one of the greatest advances in the surgical treatment of intraocular pressure (IOP). The SLT procedure takes five minutes and is performed in the office. The resulting biological response increases drainage and reduces IOP. It also allows for repeat applications, unlike previous treatments. Patients will need to be examined ever few months to determine if glaucoma is under control, but are able to enjoy life without eye drops or medications.
Laser peripheral iridotomy (PI) is performed for patients with narrow angles, narrow angle glaucoma or acute angle closure glaucoma. Aqueous fluid is made in the ciliary body of the eye, which is anatomically situated behind the iris. The aqueous fluid escapes the eye by flowing between the lens and iris of the eye, and then drains via the trabecular network, which is located in the angle of the eye (where the front of the cornea meets the iris). If the flow of aqueous fluid to the drainage angle (trabecular network) is obstructed by a forwardly bowed iris, the patient is said to have narrow angles. This condition may predispose to an acute episode of angle closure glaucoma. If the angles never acutely closed, but glaucoma is still present, the patient is diagnosed with narrow angle glaucoma. PI creates a tiny opening in the peripheral iris, allowing aqueous fluid to flow from behind the iris directly to the anterior chamber of the eye. This results in resolution of the forwardly bowed iris, and thereby opens up the angle of the eye. The narrow or closed angle becomes open. This procedure is usually done as a brief outpatient procedure. The procedure is completed with the patient seated at the laser, and requires no sedation. Usually, a lens is placed on the eye after topical anesthetic drops are applied to better control the laser beam. The procedure takes only a few minutes. The lens is then removed from the eye and vision quickly returns to normal. After the procedure, Dr. Khodabakhsh may recommend eye drops for the next few days and a post-op visit is scheduled.
Patients who are treated for glaucoma at Beverly Hills Vision Institute are monitored with the use of the GDX Nerve Fiber Analyzer. This is an instrument that uses the laser to determine the thickness of the nerve fiber layer. This layer is the tissue that the optic nerve is made up of and, therefore, detection of thinning of the nerve fiber layer may correlated with risk of glaucoma or its progression. The Nerve Fiber Analyzer is of great value because it has the ability to detect thinning of the nerve fiber layer over a period of time.
Clear Lensectomy
For patients who are in their mid-40s or older, wear bifocals and do not have cataracts and want to reduce or eliminate their dependence on glasses and contact lenses, Beverly Hills Vision Institute offers LASIK-assisted clear lensectomy (LACL). LACL is a purely refractive procedure in which the clear, natural lens of the eye is removed and replaced with the IOL lens. Vison is then fine tuned with LASIK one month following the lensectomy. The procedure is identical to refractive cataract surgery, except the patient does not have a cataract. LACL can be preformed for most level of nearsightedness or farsightedness. It can also be used to correct most levels of astigmatism.
